Global network computers

ABSTRACT

A computer that is configured for connection to a network including the Internet, including, but not limited to the following. A microchip including a microprocessor, the microprocessor including a master control unit and at least two processing units and wherein the master control unit is configured to control the processing units. The computer also includes a Faraday Cage substantially surrounding the microchip. The Microchip further includes a firewall being configured with hardware to make the master control unit inaccessible from the network including the Internet when the computer is connected to the network including the Internet. The fire wall is further configured in a manner that permits access by another computer in the network including the Internet to at least one of the processing units of the microprocessor for an operation with another computer when the computer is connected to the network including the Internet.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/802,049, filed Mar. 17, 2004, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/US02/29227, filed Sep. 16, 2002, whichin turn claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos.60/322,474, filed Sep. 17, 2001, and 60/323,701, filed Sep. 21, 2001.U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/802,049, filed Mar. 17, 2004, isalso a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/935,779, filed Aug. 24, 2001, which receives the benefit of priorityfrom provisional applications 60/308,826, filed Aug. 1, 2001, and60/227,660, filed Aug. 25, 2000. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/935,779 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/571,558, filed May 16, 2000, which receives the benefit of priorityfrom provisional applications 60/134,552, filed May 17, 1999,60/135,851, filed May 24, 1999, 60/136,759, filed May 28, 1999, and60/135,852, filed May 24, 1999. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/935,779 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/315,026, filed May 20, 1999, which receives the benefit ofpriority from provisional applications 60/134,552, filed May 17, 1999,60/086,516, filed May 22, 1998, 60/086,588 filed May 22, 1998,60/086,948, filed May 27, 1998, 60/087,587, filed Jun. 1, 1998, and60/088,459, filed Jun. 8, 1998. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/935,779 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/213,875, filed Dec. 17, 1998, which receives the benefit ofpriority of provisional application 60/068,366, filed Dec. 19, 1997, andwhich is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/980,058, filed Nov. 26, 1997, which receives the benefit of priorityof provisional application 60/066,415, filed Nov. 24, 1997, provisionalapplication 60/066,313, filed Nov. 21, 1997, provisional application60/033,871, filed Dec. 20, 1996, provisional application 60/032,207filed Dec. 2, 1996, and provisional application 60/031,855, filed Nov.29, 1996. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/315,026 is also acontinuation-in-part of PCT application PCT/US98/27058, filed Dec. 17,1998 and designating the United States. PCT/US98/27058 receives thebenefit of provisional application 60/068,366, filed Dec. 19, 1997. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/315,026 is also a continuation-in part ofPCT application PCT/US97/21812, filed Nov. 28, 1997 and designating theUnited States. PCT/US97/21812 receives the benefit of priority ofprovisional application 60/066,415, filed Nov. 24, 1997, provisionalapplication 60/066,313, filed Nov. 21, 1997, provisional application60/033,871, filed Dec. 20, 1996, provisional application 60/032,207,filed Dec. 2, 1996, and provisional application 60/031,855, filed Nov.29, 1996. PCT/US97/21812 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/980,058, whose priority is discussed above. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/935,779 is also a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/085,755, filed May 21, 1998, whichreceives the benefit of priority of provisional applications 60/066,313,filed Nov. 21, 1997, 60/066,415, filed Nov. 24, 1997, 60/068,366, filedDec. 19, 1997, 60/086,588, filed May 22, 1998, and 60/086,516, filed May22, 1998. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/085,755 is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/980,058 andPCT application PCT/US97/21812, whose respective priority is discussedabove. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/935,779 is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/980,058,whose priority is discussed above. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/571,558 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. Nos. 09/085,755, 09/213,875, and 09/315,026, whose respectivepriority is discussed above. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/315,026is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.09/085,755 and 09/213,875, whose respective priority is discussed above.The contents of all the above applications are incorporated herein intheir entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to one or more computer networks thatinclude computers, such as personal computers (PC's) or networkcomputers such as servers, which have microprocessors linked bybroadband transmission means and have hardware, software, firmware, andother means such that at least two parallel processing operations occurthat involve at least two sets of computers in the network or ininterconnected networks. This invention constitutes a form ofmetacomputing.

More particularly, this invention relates to one or more large networks,like the Internet, which comprise smaller networks and large numbers ofinterconnected computers, wherein multiple separate parallel ormassively parallel processing operations involving multiple differentsets of computers occur simultaneously. Even more particularly, thisinvention relates to one or more such networks wherein multiple parallelor massively parallel microprocessing processing operations occurseparately or in an interrelated fashion, and wherein ongoing networkprocessing linkages are established between virtually anymicroprocessors of separate computers connected to the network.

Still more particularly, this invention relates generally to a networkstructure or architecture that enables the shared use of networkmicroprocessors for parallel processing, including massive parallelprocessing, and other shared processing such as multitasking, whereinpersonal computer owners provide microprocessor processing power to anetwork, such as for parallel or massively parallel processing ormultitasking, in exchange for network linkage to other personalcomputers and other computers supplied by network providers such asInternet Service Providers (ISP's), including linkage to othermicroprocessors for parallel or other processing such as multitasking.The financial basis of the shared use between owners and providers maybe whatever terms to which the parties agree, subject to governing laws,regulations, or rules, including payment from either party to the otherbased on periodic measurement of net use or provision of processingpower like a deregulated electrical power grid or involving no payment.The network system may provide an essentially equivalent usage ofcomputing resources by both users and providers since any networkcomputer operated by either entity is potentially both a user andprovider of computing resources alternately or simultaneously, assumingmultitasking is operative. A user may have an override option exercisedon the basis of, for example, a user profile, a user's credit line, orrelatively instant payment.

This invention also relates to a network system architecture includinghardware and software that provides use of the Internet or othernetwork, without cost, to users of personal computers or othercomputers, while also providing users with computer processingperformance that at least doubles every 18 months through metacomputingmeans. This metacomputing performance increase provided by the new Grid(or MetaInternet) is in addition to other performance increases, such asthose already anticipated by Moore's Law.

The computer industry has been governed over the last 30 years byMoore's Law, which holds that the circuitry of computer chips shrinkssubstantially each year, yielding a new generation of chips every 18months with twice as many transistors, such that microprocessorcomputing power effectively doubles every year-and-a-half.

The long-term trend in computer chip miniaturization is projected tocontinue unabated over the next few decades. For example, slightly morethan a decade ago a 16 kilobit DRAM (dynamic random access memory)memory chip (storing 16,000 data bits) was typical; the standard in 1996was the 16 megabit chip (16,000,000 data bits), which was introduced in1993; industry projections are for 16 gigabit memory chips(16,000,000,000 data bits) to be introduced in 2008 and 64 gigabit chipsin 2011; and 16 terabit chips (16,000,000,000,000 data bits) may beconceivable by the mid-to-late 2020's, by which time such microchips mayhave become nanochips in terms of their circuit dimensions. This is athousand-fold increase regularly every fifteen years. Hard drive speedand capacity are also growing at a spectacular rate, even higher inrecent years than that of semiconductor microchips.

Similarly, regular and enormous improvements may continue inmicroprocessor computing speeds, whether measured in simple clock speedor MIPS (millions of instructions per second) or numbers of transistorsper chip. For example, performance has improved by four or five timesevery three years since Intel launched its X86 family of microprocessorsused in the currently dominant “Wintel” standard personal computers. Theinitial Intel Pentium Pro microprocessor was introduced in 1995 and is athousand times faster than the first IBM standard PC microprocessor, theIntel 8088, which was introduced in 1979. By 1996 the fastest ofmicroprocessors, such as Digital Equipment Corporation's Alpha chip, andeven the microprocessor of the Nintendo 64 video game system, werefaster than the processor in the Original Cray Y-MP supercomputer.

Microprocessors, software, firmware, and other components are alsoevolving from 8-bit and 16-bit systems into the 32-bit systems that arebecoming the standard today, with some 64-bit systems like the DEC Alphaalready introduced and more coming, such as Intel's Itaniummicroprocessor in 2001, with future increases to 128-bit systems likely.

A second major development trend in the past decade or so has been therise of parallel processing, a computer architecture utilizing more thanone CPU microprocessor linked together into a single computer with newoperating systems having modifications that allow such an approach.Thousands of relatively simple microprocessors may be used together formassively parallel processing. The field of supercomputing has beenovertaken by this approach, which includes designs utilizing manyidentical standard personal computer microprocessors.

Hardware, firmware, software, and other components specific to parallelprocessing are in a relatively early stage of development compared tothat for single processor computing. Therefore, much further design anddevelopment are expected in the future to better maximize the computingcapacity made possible by parallel processing. Continued improvement isanticipated in system hardware, software, and architectures for parallelprocessing so that reliance on the need for multiple microprocessors toshare a common central memory is reduced, thereby allowing moreindependent operation of those general purpose microprocessors, eachwith their own discrete memory, like current personal computers,workstations, and most other computer systems architecture. Forunconstrained operation, each individual microprocessor should haverapid access to sufficient memory.

Several models of personal computers having more than one generalpurpose microprocessor are now available. In the future, personalcomputers, broadly defined to include versions not currently in use,will likely also employ parallel computing utilizing multiplemicroprocessors or massively parallel computing with very large numbersof microprocessors. Future designs, such as Intel's Itanium chip, areexpected to have a significant number of parallel processors on a singlemicroprocessor chip.

A form of parallel processing called superscalar processing is alsobeing employed within microprocessor design. The current generation ofmicroprocessors, such as the Intel Pentium, have more than one data pathwithin the microprocessor in which data is processed, with two to threepaths being typical now and as many as eight in 1998 in IBM's new Power3 microprocessor chip.

A third major development trend is the increasing size of bandwidth,which is a measure of communications power or transmission speed, interms of units of data per second, between computers connected by anetwork. Previously, the local area networks and telephone linestypically linking computers including personal computers have operatedat speeds much lower than the processing speeds of a personal computer.For example, a typical 1997 Intel Pentium operates at 100 MIPS, whereasthe most common current Ethernet connecting PC's is roughly 10 timesslower at 10 megabits per second (Mbps), although some Ethernetconnections are now 100 Mbps and telephone lines are very much slower,the highest typical speed in 1998 being the approximately 56 kilobitsreachedduring downloads.

The situation is expected to change dramatically. Bandwidth ortransmission speed is anticipated to expand from 5 to 100 times as fastas the rise of microprocessor speeds, due to the use of coaxial cable,wireless, and especially fiber optic cable and optical wireless, insteadof old telephone twisted pair lines, and due to the use of widebandcommunication such as dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) andwideband code division multiple access (CDMA), as well as ultrawidebandwireless. In DWDM systems, multiple channels are transmitted over asingle fiber because they are sent at different wavelengths.Telecommunication providers are now making available single fiberconnections supporting a bandwidth of 40 gigabits per single fiber, and,alternatively, as many as 160 wavelength channels (lambdas) per singlefiber. In CDMA systems, users are multiplexed across the same spectrum,with each user being assigned a different instance of a noise-likecarrier wave.

Technical improvements are expected in the near term which will make itpossible to carry over 2 gigahertz (billions of cycles per second) oneach of 700 wavelength channels (lambdas), adding up to more than 1,400gigahertz on a single fiber thread. Experts have estimated that thebandwidth of optical fiber has been utilized one million times lessfully than the bandwidth of coaxial or twisted pair copper lines. Withina decade, 10,000 wavelength streams per fiber are expected; 20 to 80wavelengths on a single fiber is already commercially available. The useof thin mirrored hollow wires or tubes called omniguides may alsoprovide very substantial additional increases.

Other network connection developments, such as asynchronous transfermode (ATM) and digital signal processors, whose price/performance ratiohas improved tenfold every two years, are also supporting the rapidincrease in bandwidth. The increase in bandwidth reduces the need forswitching, and switching speed will be greatly enhanced when practicaloptical switches are introduced in the near future, potentially reducingcosts substantially.

The result of this huge bandwidth increase is extraordinary: already itis technically possible to connect virtually any computer to a networkwith a bandwidth that equals or exceeds the computer's own internalsystem bus speed, even as that bus speed itself is increasingsignificantly. The principal constraint is the infrastructure,consisting mostly of connecting the “Last mile” to personal computerswith optical fiber or other broad bandwidth connections, which stillneed to be built. The system bus of a computer is its internal networkconnecting many or most of its internal components such asmicroprocessor, random access memory (RAM), hard drive, modem, floppydrive, and CD-ROM; for recent personal computers, the system bus hasbeen only about 40 megabits per second, but is up to 133 megabits persecond on Intel's Pentium PCI bus in 1995. IBM's 1998 Power3microprocessor chip has a system bus of 1.6 gigabits per second andthere is now up to a gigabit per second on Intel's Pentium PCI bus.

Despite these tremendous improvements anticipated in the future, atypical PC is already so fast that its microprocessor is essentiallyidle during most of the time the PC is in actual use, and the operatingtime itself is but a small fraction of those days the PC is even in useat all. Nearly all PC's are essentially idle during roughly all of theiruseful life. A microprocessor of a PC may be in an idle state 99.9% ofthe time, disregarding unnecessary microprocessor busywork such asexecuting screen saver programs, which have been made essentiallyobsolete by power-saving CRT monitor technology, which is now standardin the PC industry.

Because the reliability of PC's is so exceptionally high now, with themean time to failure of all components typically several hundredthousand hours or more, the huge idle time of PC's represents a totalloss; given the high capital and operating costs of PC's, the economicloss is very high. PC idle time does not in effect store a PC, saving itfor future use, since the principle limiting factor to continued use oftoday's PC's is obsolescence, not equipment failure resulting from use.

Moreover, there is continuing concern that Moore's Law, which holds thatthe constant miniaturization of circuits results in a doubling ofcomputing power every 18 months, cannot continue to hold true muchlonger. Indeed, Moore's Law may now be nearing its limits forsilicon-based devices, perhaps by as early as 2010. No new technologieshave yet emerged that seem to have the potential for development to apractical level by then, although many recent advances have thepotential to maintain Moore's Law.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the confluence of all three of the established major trendssummarized above-supercomputer-like personal computers, the spread ofparallel processing using personal computer general purposemicroprocessors (particularly massively parallel processing), and theenormous increase in network communications bandwidth-enables a solutionto the excessive idleness problem of personal computers and the possibleend of Moore's Law. The solution may achieve very high potentialeconomic savings once the basic infrastructure connecting personalcomputers with optical fiber is in place in the relatively near future.

The solution is to use those mostly idle PC's (or their equivalents orsuccessors) to build a parallel or massively parallel processingcomputer or computers utilizing a very large network, like the Internetor, more specifically, like the World Wide Web (WWW), or theirequivalents or eventual successors like the Grid or MetaInternet (andincluding Internet II and the Next Generation Internet, which are underdevelopment now and which will utilize much broader bandwidth and willcoexist with the Internet, the structure of which is in ever constanthardware and software upgrade and including the SuperInternet based onessentially all optical fiber transmission) with extremely broadbandwidth connections and virtually unlimited data transmission speed.

A prime characteristic of the Internet is the very large number ofcomputers of all sorts already linked thereto, with the future potentialfor an effectively universal connection. The Internet is a network ofnetworks of computers that provides nearly unrestricted accessworldwide. The currently existing and soon-to-be widely available verybroad bandwidth of network communications is used to link personalcomputers externally in a manner at least equivalent to, and probablymuch faster than, the faster internal system buses of the personalcomputers, so that no external processing constraint is imposed onlinked personal computers by data input, output, or throughput; thespeed of the microprocessor itself and the internal connections or busesof the PC are the only processing constraint of the system.

This makes possible efficient external parallel processing (andmultitasking), including massively parallel processing, in a mannerparalleling more conventional internal parallel processing, calledsuperscalar processing.

In one embodiment, the World Wide Web is transformed into a huge virtualmassively parallel processing computer or computers, with potentialthrough its established hyperlinks connections to operate in a manner atleast somewhat like a neural network or neural networks, since the speedof transmission in the broadband linkages is so great that any linkagebetween two microprocessors is virtually equivalent to direct,physically close connections between those microprocessors.

With further development, digital signal processor-type microprocessorsand/or analogue microprocessors may be particularly advantageous forthis approach, either alone or in conjunction with conventionalmicroprocessors and/or the new microprocessors described below. Networkswith WWW-type hyperlinks incorporating digital signal processor-typemicroprocessors could operate separately from networks of conventionalmicroprocessors or with one or more connections between such differingnetworks or with relatively complete integration between such differingnetworks. Simultaneous operation across the same network connectionstructure should be possible, employing non-interfering transmissionlinks.

Such extremely broad bandwidth networks of computers enable every PCwithin the network to be fully utilized or nearly so. Because of theextraordinary extent to which existing PC's are currently idle, atoptimal performance this new system may result in a thousand-foldincrease in computer power available to each and every PC user, and, ondemand, almost any desired level of increased power, limited mostly byincreased cost, which however are relatively far less than possible fromother conceivable computer network configurations. This revolutionaryincrease is in addition to the extremely rapid, but evolutionaryincreases already occurring in the computer/network industry, asdiscussed above.

The metacomputing hardware and software means of the Grid (orMetaInternet) provides performance increases that are likely to at leastdouble every eighteen months based on the doubling of personal computersshared in a typical parallel processing operation by a standard PC user,starting first with at least 2 PC's, then about 4, about 8, about 16,about 32, about 64, about 128, about 256, and about 512, for example.After about fifteen years, for example, it is anticipated that eachstandard PC user will likely be able to use a maximum of about 1,024personal computers for parallel processing or any other shared computinguse, while generally using for free the Internet or its successors, likethe Grid (or MetaInternet). At the other end of the performancespectrum, supercomputers experience a similar performance increasegenerally, but ultimately the performance increase is limited primarilyby the cost of adding network linkages to available PC's, so there isdefinite potential for a huge leap in supercomputer performance.

Network computer systems as described above offer almost limitlessflexibility due to the abundant supply of heretofore idle connectedmicroprocessors. This advantage allows “tightly coupled” computingproblems, which normally are difficult to process in parallel, to besolved without knowing in advance how many processors are available (asis now necessary in relatively massively parallel processing), what theyare, and their connection characteristics. A minimum number ofequivalent processors (with equivalent other specifications) are easilyfound nearby in a massive network like the Internet and assigned withinthe network from those multitudes available nearby. Moreover, the numberof microprocessors used are almost completely flexible, depending on thecomplexity of the problem, and limited only by cost. The existingproblem of time delay is solved largely by the widespread introductionof broad bandwidth connections between computers processing in parallel.

The state of the known art relating to this application is summarized inThe Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure, edited by IanFoster and Carl Kesselman, and published by Morgan Kaufman Publishers,Inc. in 1998. The state of the known art relating to this application isalso summarized in: Scalable Parallel Computing by Kai Hwang and ZhiweiXu, published by WCB McGraw-Hill in 1998; Parallel Programming by BarryWilkinson and Michael Allen, published by Prentice Hall in 1998;Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (2nd Edition) by DavidPatterson and John Hennessy, published by Morgan Kaufmann in 1996;Parallel Computer Architecture by David Culler and Jaswinder Singh,published by Morgan Kaufman in 1998; and Computer Organization andDesign by John Hennessy and David Patterson, published by Morgan Kaufmanin 1998.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a meter means which measuresflow of computing during a shared operation such as parallel processingbetween a typical PC user and a network provider.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of another meter means whichmeasures the flow of network resources, including shared processing,being provided to a typical PC user and a network provider.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of another meter means which,prior to execution, estimates the level of network resources, and theircost, of a shared processing operation requested by a typical PC userfrom a network provider.

FIGS. 4A-4C are simplified diagrams of a section of a computer network,such as the Internet, showing in a sequence of steps an embodiment of aselection means whereby a shared processing request by a PC is matchedwith a standard preset number of other PC's to execute a sharedoperation.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are simplified diagrams of a section of a computernetwork, such as the Internet, showing embodiments of a control meanswhereby the PC, when idled by its user, is made available to the networkfor shared processing operations.

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a signal means whereby the PC,when idled by its user, signals its availability to the network forshared processing operations.

FIG. 7 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a receiver and/or interrogatormeans whereby the network.

FIG. 8 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a selection and/or utilizationmeans whereby the network locates available PC's in the network that arelocated closest to each other for shared processing.

FIG. 9 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a system architecture forconducting a request imitated by a PC for a search using parallelprocessing means that utilizes a number of networked PC's.

FIGS. 10A-10Q are simplified diagrams of a section of a computernetwork, such as the Internet, showing an embodiment of a systemarchitecture utilizing an internal firewall to separate that part of anetworked PC (including a system reduced in size to a microchip) that isaccessible to the network for shared processing from a part that is keptaccessible only to the PC user; also showing the alternating role thateach PC in the network may play as either a master or slave in a sharedprocessing operation involving one or more slave PCs in the network; andshowing a home or business network system which can be configured as anIntranet; in addition, showing PC and PC microchips controlled by acontroller (including remote) with limited or no processing capability;and showing PC and PC microchips in which an internal firewall 50 can bereconfigured by a PC user.

FIG. 11 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a system architecture forconnecting clusters of PC's to each other by wireless means, to createthe closest possible (and therefore fastest) connections.

FIG. 12 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a system architecture forconnecting PC's to a satellite by wireless means.

FIG. 13 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a system architectureproviding a cluster of networked PC's with complete interconnectivity bywireless means.

FIG. 14A is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network,such as the Internet, showing an embodiment of a transponder meanswhereby a PC can identify one or more of the closest available PC's in anetwork cluster to designate for shared processing by wireless means.FIG. 14B shows clusters connected wirelessly. FIG. 14C shows a wirelesscluster with transponders and with a network wired connection to theInternet. FIG. 14D shows a network client/server wired system withtransponders.

FIG. 15 is a simplified diagram of a section of a computer network, suchas the Internet, showing an embodiment of a routing means whereby a PCrequest for shared processing is routed within a network using broadbandwidth connection means to another area in a network with one or moreidle PC's available.

FIGS. 16A-16Z, 16AA, and 16AB show a new hierarchical networkarchitecture for personal computers and/or microprocessors based onsubdivision of parallel processing or multi-tasking operations through anumber of levels down to a processing level.

FIGS. 17A-17D show an internal firewall 50 with a dual function,including that of protecting Internet users (and/or other network userssharing use) of one or more slave personal computers PC 1 ormicroprocessors 40 from unauthorized surveillance or intervention by anowner/operator of those slave processors.

FIGS. 18A-18D show designs for one or more virtual quantum computersintegrated into one or more digital computers.

FIG. 19 shows special adaptations to allow the use of idle automobilecomputers to be powered and connected to the Internet (or other net) forparallel or multi-tasking processing.

FIGS. 20A and 20B show separate broad bandwidth outputs or inputs suchas an optical connection like glass fiber from each microprocessor 40 or94.

FIGS. 21A and 21B are similar to FIGS. 20A and 20B, but showadditionally that all microprocessors of a personal computer or personalcomputer on a microchip can have a separate input/output communicationlink to a digital signal processor (DSP) or other transmission/receptionconnection component. FIG. 21C shows a H-tree configuration of binarytree networks.

FIGS. 22A-22C shows a PC microprocessor on a microchip similar to thatof FIG. 21B, except that FIGS. 22A-22C show microprocessors 93 and 94each connecting to an optical wired connection 99′ such as thin mirroredhollow wire or optical omniguide or optical fiber.

FIGS. 23A-23E show multiple firewalls 50 within a personal computer 1 orPC microchip 90.

FIG. 24 shows a hard drive with an internal firewall 50.

FIGS. 25A-25D show the use for security of power interruption or dataoverwrite of volatile memory like DRAM and non-volatile memory likeFlash or MRAM (or ovonics), respectively, of the network portion of apersonal computer PCI or system on a microchip PC90.

FIGS. 26A-26C show exemplary microchip and photovoltaic cellembodiments.

FIGS. 27A-27H show exemplary microchip and Faraday Cage embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments useful for a network of computers are presented. In anembodiment, an apparatus includes a microchip and a Faraday Cage. Themicrochip includes a personal computer with a general purposemicroprocessor on the microchip. The Faraday Cage surrounds at least aportion of the microchip. In another embodiment, an apparatus includes amicrochip. The microchip includes a general purpose microprocessor andone or more photovoltaic cells.

The new network computer utilizes PC's as providers of computing powerto the network, not just users of network services. These connectionsbetween network and personal computer are enabled by a new form ofcomputer/network financial structure that is rooted in the fact thateconomic resources being provided the network by PC owners (or leaser)are similar in value to those being provided by the network providerproviding connectivity.

Unlike existing one-way functional relationships between PC users andnetwork providers such as internet service providers, which oftencurrently utilize telecommunications networks for connectivity, whereinthe network provider provides access to a network like the Internet fora fee, much like cable TV services, this new relationship recognizesthat the PC user is also providing the network access to the user's PCfor parallel computing use, which has a similar value. The PC thus bothprovides and uses services on the network, alternatively or potentiallyeven virtually simultaneously, in a multitasking mode.

This new network operates with a structural relationship that is roughlylike that which presently exists between an electrical power utility anda small independent power generator connected to a deregulated utility'selectrical power grid, wherein electrical power can flow in eitherdirection between utility and independent generator depending on theoperating decisions of both parties, and at any particular point in timeeach party is in either a debt or credit position relative to the otherbased on the net direction of that flow for a given period, and eachparty is billed accordingly. In the increasingly deregulated electricalpower industry, electrical power, in terms of creation and transmission,is becoming a commodity bought and sold in a competitive marketplacethat crosses traditional borders. With the structural relationshipproposed herein for the new network, parallel free market structures candevelop over time in a new computer power industry dominated by networksof personal computers in all their forms providing shared processing ina grid scaling almost seamlessly from local to national to internationallike an open market electrical power grid.

For this new network and its structural relationships, a networkprovider or Internet service provider (ISP) is defined in the broadestpossible way as any entity (corporation or other business, government,not-for-profit, cooperative, consortium, committee, association,community, or other organization or individual) that provides personalcomputer users (very broadly defined below) with initial and continuingconnection hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or othercomponents and/or services to any network, such as the Internet and WWWor Internet II or Next Generation Internet (NGI) or their present orfuture equivalents, coexistors, or successors, like the herein proposedGrid (or MetaInternet), including any of the current or future types ofInternet access providers (ISP's) including telecommunication companies,television cable or broadcast companies, electrical power utilities orother related companies, satellite communications companies, or theirpresent or future equivalents, coexistors or successors.

The connection means used in the networks of the network providers,including between personal computers or equivalents or successors, maybe very broad bandwidth, including electromagnetic connections andoptical connections, including wired like fiber optic cable or wirelesslike optical wireless, for example, but not excluding any otherelectromagnetic or other means, including television coaxial cable andtelephone twisted pair, as well as associated gateways, bridges,routers, and switches with all associated hardware and/or softwareand/or firmware and/or other components and their present or futureequivalents or successors. The computers used by the Internet serviceproviders include any current or future computers, including suchcurrent examples as mainframes, minicomputers, servers, and personalcomputers, and their associated hardware and/or software and/or firmwareand/or other components, and their present or future equivalents orsuccessors.

Other levels of network control beyond the Internet or other networkservice provider also exist to control any aspect of the parallelprocessing network structure and function, any one of which levels mayor may not control and interact directly with the PC user. For example,at least one level of network control like the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C) or Internet Society (ISOC) or other ad hoc industry consortiaestablish and ensure compliance with any prescribed parallel processingnetwork standards and/or protocols and/or industry standard agreementsfor any hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or other componentconnected to the network. Under the consensus control of theseconsortia/societies, other levels of the parallel processing networkcontrol can deal with administration and operation of the network. Theseother levels of the parallel processing network control can potentiallybe constituted by any network entity, including those definedimmediately above for network providers.

The principal defining characteristic of the parallel processing networkherein described is communication connections (including hardware and/orsoftware and/or firmware and/or other component) of any form, includingelectromagnetic (such as radio or microwaves and including light) andelectrochemical (and not excluding biochemical or biological), betweenPC users and their computers, with connection (either directly orindirectly) to the largest number possible of users and their computersand microprocessors being highly advantageous, such as networks like theInternet (and Internet II and the Next Generation Internet) and WWW andequivalents and successors, like the Grid (or MetaInternet). Multiplelevels of such networks will likely coexist with different technicalcapabilities, like Internet and Internet II, but have interconnectionand therefore communicate freely between levels, for such standardnetwork functions as electronic mail, for example.

A personal computer (PC) user is defined in the broadest possible way asany individual or other entity routinely using a personal computer,which is defined as any computer, such as digital or analog or neural orquantum, particularly including personal use microprocessor-basedpersonal computers having one or more general purpose microprocessors(each including one or more parallel processors) in their generalcurrent form, including hardware with fixed or reconfigurable circuitry(such as field-programmable gate array or FPGA) and/or electromechanicalcomponents (including micro or nano sized) and/or optical components,including all-optical, and/or software and/or firmware and/or any othercomponent and their present and future equivalents or successors, suchas application-specific (or several application) computers, networkcomputers, handheld personal digital assistants, personal communicatorssuch as telephones and pagers, wearable computers, digital signalprocessors, neural-based computers (including PC's), entertainmentdevices such as televisions and associated cable digital set-top controlboxes, video tape recorders, video electronic games, videocams, compactor digital video disk (CD or DVD) player/recorders, radios and cameras,other household electronic devices, business electronic devices such asprinters, copiers, fax machines, footwear, automobile or othertransportation equipment devices, robots, toys, and other electronicdevices, especially including those owned (or leased directly orindirectly) and used directly by individuals, utilizing one or moremicroprocessors, including those made of inorganic compounds such assilicon and/or other inorganic or organic (including biological, such asDNA) compounds, and other current or successor devices incorporating oneor more microprocessors (or functional or structural equivalents),including routers, switches, and other network devices, as well ascurrent and future forms of mainframe computers, minicomputers,workstations, and even supercomputers, as well as routers, switches, andother electrical or optical network devices (or microelectro-mechanicaldevices such as MEMS), that can be considered as PCs in the distributedprocessing network described herein, since they can be used functionallyin the same general way in the network as a PC or a PC can be used toperform their functions, at least in a limited fashion alone or moreeffectively in numbers that are aggregated together or distributed. Suchpersonal computers as defined above have owners or Teasers, which may ormay not be the same as the computer users. Continuous connection ofcomputers to the network, such as the Internet, WWW, or equivalents orsuccessors, is not required, since connection can also be made at theinitiation of a shared processing operation.

Parallel processing is defined as one form of shared processinginvolving two or more microprocessors used in solving the samecomputational problem or other task. Massively parallel microprocessorprocessing involves large numbers of microprocessors. In today'stechnology, massive parallel processing is probably to be considered tobe about 64 microprocessors (referred to in this context as nodes) andover 7,000 nodes have been successfully tested in an Intel supercomputerdesign using PC microprocessors (Pentium Pros). It is anticipated thatcontinued software improvements will make possible effective use of amuch larger number of nodes, very possibly limited only by the number ofmicroprocessors available for use on a given network, even anextraordinarily large one like the Internet or its equivalents and/orsuccessors, like the Grid (or MetaInternet). Shared processing alsoincludes multitasking, which is unrelated processing in parallel.

Broadband wavelength or broad bandwidth network transmission is definedhere to mean a transmission speed (usually measured in bits per second)that is at least high enough (or roughly at least equivalent to theinternal clock speed of the microprocessor or microprocessors times thenumber of microprocessor channels equaling instructions per second oroperations per second or calculations per second) so that the processinginput and output of the microprocessor is substantially unrestricted,particularly including at peak processing levels, by the bandwidth ofthe network connections between microprocessors that are performing someform of parallel processing, particularly including massive parallelprocessing. Since this definition is dependent on microprocessor speed,it increases as microprocessor speeds increase. For microchips with morethan one processor, the network connection to the microchip may havebandwidth broad enough to ensure that all of the microprocessors areunrestricted by a bottleneck at the connection during themicroprocessors' peak processing levels.

However, a connection means referenced above is a light wave or opticalwaveguide connection such as fiber optic cable, which in 1996 alreadyprovided multiple gigabit bandwidth on single fiber thread and israpidly improving significantly on a continuing basis, so the generaluse of optical waveguide connections such as fiber between PCs mayassure broad bandwidth for data transmission that is far greater thanmicroprocessor and associated internal bus speed to provide data to betransmitted. In addition, new wired optical connections or waveguide inthe form of thin, mirrored hollow wires or tubes called omniguides offereven much greater bandwidth than optical fiber and without need foramplification when transmitting over distances, unlike optical fiber.The connection means to provide broad bandwidth transmission is eitherwired or wireless, with wireless (especially optical) generally providedfor mobile personal computers (or equivalents or successors) and asotherwise indicated below. Wireless connection bandwidth is alsoincreasing rapidly and optical wireless bandwidth is considered to offeressentially the same benefit as fiber optic cable: data transmissionspeed that exceeds data processing speed.

The financial basis of the shared use between owners/leasers andproviders is whatever terms to which the parties agree, subject togoverning laws, regulations, or rules, including payment from eitherparty to the other based on periodic measurement of net use or provisionof processing power, in a manner like an deregulated or open marketelectrical power grid.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, in order for this networkstructure to function effectively, there is a meter device 5 (comprisinghardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or other component) tomeasure the flow of computing power between PC 1 user and network 2provider, which may provide connection to the Internet and/or World WideWeb and/or Internet II and/or any present or future equivalent orsuccessor 3, like the Grid (or MetaInternet). In one embodiment, the PCuser may be measured by some net rating of the processing power beingmade available to the network, such as net score on one or more standardtests measuring speed or other performance characteristics of theoverall system speed, such as PC Magazine's benchmark test program, ZDWinstone (potentially including hardware and/or software and/or firmwareand/or other component testing) or specific individual scores forparticularly important components like the microprocessor (such as MIPSor millions of instructions per second) that may be ofapplication-specific importance, and by the elapsed time such resourceswere used by the network. In the simplest case, for example, such ameter need measure only the time the PC was made available to thenetwork for processing 4, which can be used to compare with time the PCused the network (which is already normally measured by the provider, asdiscussed below) to arrive at a net cost; potential locations of such ameter include at a network computer such as a server, at the PC, and atsome point on the connection between the two. Throughput of data in anystandard terms is another potential measure.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, there also is a meter device7 (comprised of hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or othercomponent) that measures the amount of network resources 6 that arebeing used by each individual PC 1 user and their associated cost. Thisincludes, for example, time spent doing conventional downloading of datafrom sites in the network or broadcast from the network 6. Such meteringdevices currently exist to support billing by the hour of service ortype of service, as is common in the public industry, by providers suchas America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy. The capability of suchexisting devices is enhanced to include a measure of parallel processingresources that are allocated by the Internet Service Provider orequivalent to an individual PC user from other PC users 6, also measuredsimply in time. The net difference in time 4 between the results ofmeter 5 and meter 7 for a given period provides a reasonable billingbasis.

Alternately, as shown in FIG. 3, a meter 10 also estimates to theindividual PC user prospectively the amount of network resources neededto fulfill a processing request from the PC user to the network(provider or other level of network control) and associated projectedcost, provides a means of approving the estimate by executing therequest, and a realtime readout of the cost as it occurs (alternatively,this meter may be done only to alert 9 the PC user that a givenprocessing request 8 falls outside normal, previously acceptedparameters, such as level of cost). For an unusually deep searchrequest, a priority or time limit and depth of search may be criteria orlimiting parameters that the user can determine or set with the device,or that can be preset, for example, by the network operating system ofthe ISP or by the operating system of the PC or other components of theparallel processing system.

The network may involve no payment between users and providers, with thenetwork system (software, hardware, etc.) providing an essentiallyequivalent usage of computing resources by both users and providers(since any network computer operated by either entity can potentially beboth a user and provider of computing resources (even simultaneously,assuming multitasking), with potentially an override option by a user(exercised on the basis, for example, of user profile or user's creditline or through relatively instant payment).

As shown in FIGS. 4A-4C, the priority and extent of use of PC and otherusers may be controlled on a default-to-standard-of-class-usage basis bythe network (provider or other) and overridden by the user decision on abasis prescribed by the specific network provider (or by another levelof network control). One example of a default basis is to expend up to aPC's or other user's total credit balance with the provider describedabove and the network provider then to provide further prescribedservice on a debt basis up to some set limit for the user; differentusers may have different limits based on resources and/or credithistory.

A specific category of PC user based, for example, on specificmicroprocessor hardware owned or leased, may have access to a setmaximum number of parallel PC's or microprocessors, with smaller orbasic users generally having less access and vice versa. Specificcategories of users may also have different priorities for the executionof their processing by the network other than the simplest case of firstcome, first served (until complete). Avery wide range of specificstructural forms between user and provider are possible, bothconventional and new, based on unique features of the new networkcomputer system of shared processing resources.

For example, in the simplest case, in an initial system embodiment, asshown in FIG. 4A, a standard PC 1 user request 11 for a use involvingparallel processing may be defaulted by system software 13, as shown inFIG. 4B, to the use of only one other essentially identical PC 1,microprocessor for parallel processing or multitasking, as shown in FIG.4C; larger standard numbers of PC microprocessors, such as about threePC's at the next level, as shown in later FIG. 10G (which could alsoillustrate a PC 1 user exercising an override option to use a level ofservices above the default standard of one PC microprocessor, presumablyat extra cost), for a total of about four, then about 8, about 16, about32, about 64, and so on, or virtually any number in between, is madeavailable as the network system is upgraded in simple phases over time,as well as the addition of sophisticated override options. As thephase-in process continues, many more PC microprocessors can be madeavailable to the standard PC user (virtually any number), starting atabout 128, for example, then about 256, then about 512, then about 1024and so on over time, as the network and all of its components aregradually upgraded to handle the increasing numbers. System scalabilityat even the standard user level is essentially unlimited over time.

For most standard PC users (including present and future equivalents andsuccessors), connection to the Internet or present or future equivalentsor successors like the Grid (or MetaInternet) may be at no cost to PCusers, since in exchange for such Internet access the PC users cangenerally make their PC, when idle, available to the network for sharedprocessing. Competition between Internet Service Providers (includingpresent and future equivalents and successors) for PC user customers maybe over such factors as the convenience and quality of the accessservice provided and of shared processing provided at no additional costto standard PC users, or on such factors as the level of sharedprocessing in terms, for example, of number of slave PC's assigned on astandard basis to a master PC. The ISP's can also compete for parallelprocessing operations, from inside or outside the ISP Networks, toconduct over their networks.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 5A-5B, in another embodiment there is a(hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or other) controllingdevice to control access to the user's PC by the network. In itssimplest form, such as a manually activated electromechanical switch,the PC user could set this controller device to make the PC available tothe network when not in use by the PC user. Alternatively, the PC usercould set the controller device to make the PC available to the networkwhenever in an idle state, however momentary, by making use ofmultitasking hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or othercomponent (broadcast or “push” applications from the Internet or othernetwork could still run in the desktop background).

Or, more simply, as shown in FIG. 5A, whenever the state that all userapplications are closed and the PC 1 is available to the network 14(perhaps after a time delay set by the user, like that conventionallyused on Screensaver software) is detected by a software controllerdevice 12 installed in the PC, the device 12 signals 15 the networkcomputer such as a server 2 that the PC available to the network, whichcould then control the PC 1 for parallel processing or multitasking byanother PC. Such shared processing can continue until the device 12detects an application being opened 16 in the first. PC (or at first useof keyboard, for quicker response, in a multitasking environment), whenthe device 12 signals 17 the network computer such as a server 2 thatthe PC is no longer available to the network, as shown in FIG. 5B, sothe network can then terminate its use of the first PC.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, there is a (hardware and/or softwareand/or, firmware and/or other component) signaling device 18 for the PC1 to indicate or signal 15 to the network the user PC's availability 14for network use (and whether full use or multitasking only) as well asits specific (hardware/software/firmware/other components) configuration20 (from a status 19 provided by the PC) in sufficient detail for thenetwork or network computer such as a server 2 to utilize its capabilityeffectively. In one embodiment, the transponder device is resident inthe user PC and broadcasts its idle state or other status (upon changeor periodically, for example) or responds to a query signal from anetwork device.

Also, in another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a(hardware/software and/or firmware and/or other component) transponderdevice 21 resident in a part of the network (such as network computer,switch, router, or another PC, for example) that receives 22 the PCdevice status broadcast and/or queries 26 the PC for its status, asshown in FIG. 7.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the network grid also hasresident in a part of its hardware and/or software (and/or firmwareand/or other components) a capacity such as to allow it to mosteffectively select and utilize the available user PC's to performparallel processing initiated by PC users or the network providers orothers. To do so, the network grid should have the (hardware and/orsoftware and/or firmware and/or other component) capability of locatingeach PC accurately at the PC's position on the geographic gridlines/connection means 23 so that parallel processing occurs betweenPC's (PC 1 and PC 1 ₂) as close together as possible, which should notbe difficult for PC's at fixed sites with a geographic location,customarily grouped together into cells 24, as shown in FIG. 8, butwhich requires an active system for any wireless microprocessor tomeasure its distance from its network relay site, as discussed below inFIG. 14.

One of the primary capabilities of the Internet (or Internet II orsuccessor, like the Grid or MetaInternet) or WWW network computer is tofacilitate searches by the PC user or other user. As shown in FIG. 9,searches are particularly suitable to multiple processing, since, forexample, a typical search is to find a specific Internet or WWW sitewith specific information. Such site searches can be broken upgeographically, with a different PC processor 1′ allocated by thenetwork communicating through a wired means 99 as shown (or wirelessconnections) to search each area, the overall area being divided intoeight separate parts, as shown, which may be about equal, so that thetotal search would be about ⅛ as long as if one processor did it alone(assuming the PC 1 microprocessor provides control only and not parallelprocessing).

As a typical example, a single PC user might need 1,000 minutes ofsearch time to find what is requested, whereas the network computer,using multiple PC processors, might be able to complete the search in100 minutes using 10 processors, or 10 minutes using 100 processors or 1minute using 1,000 processors (or even 1 second using 60,000processors), assuming performance transparency, which should beachievable, at least over time, even for massive numbers of parallelprocessors. The parallel processing network's external parallelprocessing may be completely scalable, with virtually no theoreticallimit.

The above examples also illustrates a tremendous potential benefit ofnetwork parallel processing. The same amount of network resources,60,000 processor seconds, was expended in each of the equivalentexamples. But by using relatively large multiples of processors, thenetwork can provide the user with relatively immediate response with nodifference in cost (or relatively little difference)—a major benefit. Ineffect, each PC user linked to the network providing external parallelprocessing becomes, in effect, a virtual supercomputer. As discussedbelow, supercomputers can experience a similar spectacular leap inperformance by employing a thousand-fold (or more) increase inmicroprocessors above current levels.

Such power will likely be required for any effective searches in theWorld Wide Web (WWW). WWW is currently growing at a rate such that it isdoubling every year, so that searching for information within the WWWwill become geometrically more difficult in future years, particularly adecade hence, and it is already a very significant difficulty to findWWW sites of relevance to any given search and then to review andanalyze the contents of the site.

In addition, many more large databases are being made Web accessible andthe use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) will accelerate that trend.Moreover, existing search engine results list information from a priorgeneral search and merely summarized on the web servers of search engineoperators, whereas embodiments of the present invention allow a furthercontemporaneous specifically targeted search directed by the PC userutilizing search engine results only as a starting point for muchgreater depth and analysis allowed by the shared use of many other PC'sin a parallel processing operation.

Therefore, the capability to search with massive parallel processing candramatically enhance the capabilities of scientific, technological andmedical researchers.

Such enhanced capabilities for searching (and analysis) can alsofundamentally alter the relationship of buyers and sellers of any itemsand/or services. For the buyer, massive parallel network processing canmake it possible to find the best price, worldwide, for any product orthe most highly rated product or service (for performance, reliability,etc.) within a category or the best combination of price/performance orthe highest rated product for a given price point and so on. The bestprice for the product can include best price for shipping withinspecific delivery time parameters acceptable to the buyer.

For the seller, such parallel processing can drastically enhance thesearch, worldwide, for customers potentially interested in a givenproduct or service, providing very specific targets for advertisement.Sellers and producers can know their customers directly and interactwith them directly for feedback on specific products and services tobetter assess customer satisfaction and survey for new productdevelopment.

Similarly, the vastly increased capability provided by the system'sshared parallel processing can produce major improvements in complexsimulations like modeling worldwide and local weather systems over time,as well as design and testing of any structure or product, fromairliners and skyscrapers to new drugs and to the use of much moresophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) in medical treatment and insorting through and organizing the PC users voluminous input ofelectronic data from “push” technologies. Improvements in games alsoresult, especially in terms of realistic simulation and realtimeinteractivity.

The Internet or WWW network computer system like the Grid (orMetaInternet) can put into the hands of the PC user an extraordinary newlevel of computer power vastly greater than the most powerfulsupercomputer existing today. The world's total of microchips wasalready about 350 billion in 1997, of which about 15 billion aremicroprocessors of some kind; most are fairly simple “appliance” typemicrochips running wrist watches, televisions, cameras, cars,telephones, etc. Assuming growth at its current rates, in a decade theInternet/Internet II/WWW may have a billion individual PC users, eachproviding an average total of at least 10 highly sophisticatedmicroprocessors (assuming PC's with at least 4 microprocessors (or more,such as 16 microprocessors or 32, for example) and associated otherhandheld, home entertainment, and business devices with microprocessorsor digital processing capability, like a digital signal processor orsuccessor devices. That results in a global computer a decade from nowmade of at least 10 billion microprocessors, interconnected by broadbandwidth electromagnetic wave means at speeds approaching the speed oflight.

In addition, the exceptionally numerous special purpose “appliance”microprocessors noted above, especially those that operate nowintermittently like personal computers, may be designed to the samebasic consensus industry standard used for parallel microprocessors forPC's (or equivalents or successors) or for PC “systems on a chip”,discussed later in FIGS. 10A-H, so that all PCs and microprocessorsfunction homogeneously or are homogeneous in the parallel processingInternet. If such PCs and appliance microprocessors are also connectedby any broad bandwidth means including fiber optic cable or opticalwireless or other wireless, then the number of parallel processorspotentially available can increase roughly about 10 times, for a netpotential “standard” computing performance of up to 10,000 times currentperformance within fifteen years, exclusive of Moore's Law routineincreases. Web-based ubiquitous computing would become a reality, interms either of direct connection to the Web or use of common Webstandards.

Moreover, in an environment where all current intermittently operatingmicroprocessors follow the same basic design standards so that all arehomogeneous parallel processors, then although the cost permicroprocessor increases somewhat, especially initially, the net cost ofcomputing for all users falls drastically due to the general performanceincrease due to the use of billions of otherwise idle “appliance”microprocessors. Therefore, the overall system cost reduction compels atransformation of virtually all such microprocessors, which arecurrently specialty devices known as application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), into general microprocessors (like PC's), withsoftware and firmware providing most of their distinguishingfunctionality. As noted above, homogeneity of parallel (andmulti-tasking) processing design standards for microprocessors andnetwork, including local and Internet, may be employed, butheterogeneity is also a well established parallel processing alternativeproviding significant benefits compared to non-parallel processing.

A typical supercomputer today utilizing the latest PC microprocessorshas less than a hundred. Using network linkage to all external parallelprocessing, a peak maximum of perhaps 1 billion microprocessors can bemade available for a network supercomputer user, providing it with thepower 10,000,000 times greater than is available using currentconventional internal parallel processing supercomputers (assuming thesame microprocessor technology). Because of its virtually limitlessscalability mentioned above, resources made available by the network tothe supercomputer user or PC user can be capable of varyingsignificantly during any computing function, so that peak computingloads can be met with effectively whatever level of resources arenecessary.

In summary, regarding monitoring the net provision of power between PCand network, FIGS. 1-9 show embodiments of a system for a network ofcomputers, including personal computers, comprising: means for networkservices including browsing functions, as well as shared computerprocessing such as parallel processing, to be provided to the personalcomputers within the network; at least two personal computers; means forat least one of the personal computers, when idled by a personal user,to be made available temporarily to provide the shared computerprocessing services to the network; and means for monitoring on a netbasis the provision of the services to each personal computer or to thepersonal computer user. In addition, FIGS. 1-9 show embodimentsincluding where the system is scalar in that the system imposes no limitto the number of the personal computers, including at least 1024personal computers; the system is scalar in that the system imposes nolimit to the number of personal computers participating in a singleshared computer processing operation, including at least 256 personalcomputers; the network is connected to the Internet and its equivalentsand successors, so that the personal computers include at least amillion personal computers; the network is connected to the World WideWeb and its successors; the network includes at least one network serverthat participates in the shared computer processing; the monitoringmeans includes a meter device to measure the flow of computing powerbetween the personal computers and the network; the monitoring meansincludes a means by which the personal user of the personal computer isprovided with a prospective estimate of cost for the network to executean operation requested by the personal user prior to execution of theoperation by the network; the system has a control means by which topermit and to deny access to the personal computers by the network forshared computer processing; access to the personal computers by thenetwork is limited to those times when the personal computers are idle;and the personal computers having at least one microprocessor andcommunicating with the network through a connection means having a speedof data transmission that is at least greater than a peak dataprocessing speed of the microprocessor.

Also, relative to maintaining a standard cost, FIGS. 1-9 showembodiments of a system for a network of computers, including personalcomputers, comprising: means for network services including browsingfunctions, as well as shared computer processing such as parallelprocessing, to be provided to the personal computers within the network;at least two personal computers; means for at least one of the personalcomputers, when idled by a personal user, to be made availabletemporarily to provide the shared computer processing services to thenetwork; and means for maintaining a standard cost basis for theprovision of the services to each personal computer or to the personalcomputer user. In addition, FIGS. 1-9 show embodiments including wherethe system is scalar in that the system imposes no limit to the numberof personal computers, including at least 1,024 personal computers; thesystem is scalar in that the system imposes no limit to the number ofthe personal computers participating in a single shared computerprocessing operation, including at least 256 personal computers; thenetwork is connected to the Internet and its equivalents and successors,so that the personal computers include at least a million personalcomputers; the standard cost is fixed; the fixed standard cost is zero;the means for maintaining a standard cost basis includes the use ofmaking available a standard number of personal computers for sharedprocessing by personal computers; the network is connected to the WorldWide Web and its successors; the personal user can override the meansfor maintaining a standard cost basis so that the personal user canobtain additional network services; the system has a control means bywhich to permit and to deny access to the personal computers by thenetwork for shared computer processing; the personal computers having atleast one microprocessor and communicating with the network through aconnection means having a speed of data transmission that is at leastgreater than a peak data processing speed of the microprocessor.

Browsing functions generally include functions like those standardfunctions provided by current Internet browsers, such as MicrosoftExplorer 3.0 or 4.0 and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or 4.0, including atleast access to searching World Wide Web or Internet sites, exchangingE-Mail worldwide, and worldwide conferencing; an intranet network usesthe same browser software, but may not include access to the Internet orWWW. Shared processing includes parallel processing and multitaskingprocessing involving more than two personal computers, as defined above.The network system is entirely scalar, with any number of PCmicroprocessors potentially possible.

As shown in FIGS. 10A-10F, to deal with operational and security issues,it may be beneficial for individual users to have one microprocessor orequivalent device that is designated, permanently or temporarily, to bea master 30 controlling device (comprising hardware and/or softwareand/of firmware and/or other component) that remains inaccessible(using, for example, a hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/orother component firewall 50) directly by the network but which controlsthe functions of the other slave microprocessors 40 when the network isnot utilizing them.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10A, a typical PC 1 may have four or fivemicroprocessors (even on a single microprocessor chip), with one master30 and three or four slaves 40, depending on whether the master 30 is acontroller exclusively (through different design of any component part),requiring four slave microprocessors 40; or the master microprocessor 30has the same or equivalent microprocessing capability as a slave 40 andmultiprocesses in parallel with the slave microprocessors 40, therebyrequiring only three slave microprocessors 40. The number of PC slavemicroprocessors 40 can be increased to virtually any other number, suchas at least about eight, about 16, about 32, about 64, about 128; about256, about 512, about 1024, and so on. These multiples are not required,and the number of PC master microprocessors 30 may be increased. Alsoincluded is an internal firewall 50 between master 30 and slave 40microprocessors. As shown in preceding FIGS. 1-9, the PC 1 in FIG. 10Amay be connected to a network computer 2 and to the Internet or WWW orpresent or future equivalent or successor 3, like the Grid (orMetaInternet).

Other typical PC hardware components such as hard drive 61, floppydiskette drive 62, compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) 63, digitalvideo disk (DVD) 64, Flash memory 65, random access memory (RAM) 66,video or other display 67, graphics card 68, and sound card 69, as wellas digital signal processor or processors, together with the softwareand/or firmware stored on or for them, can be located on either side ofinternal firewall 50, but such devices as the display 67, graphics card68 and sound card 69 and those devices that both read and write and havenon-volatile memory (retain data without power and generally have to bewritten over to erase), such as hard drive 61, Flash memory 65, floppydiskette drive 62, read/write CD-ROM 63 or DVD 64 may be located on thePC user side of the internal firewall 50, where the mastermicroprocessor is also located, as shown in FIG. 10A, for securityreasons; their location can be flexible, with that capability controlledsuch as by password-authorized access.

Alternately, any of these devices that are duplicative (or for otherexceptional needs) like a second hard drive 61′, can be located on thenetwork side of the internal firewall 50. RAM 66 or equivalent orsuccessor memory, which typically is volatile (data is lost when poweris interrupted), should generally be located on the network side of theinternal firewall 50, but some can be located with the mastermicroprocessor to facilitate its independent use.

However, read-only memory (ROM) devices including most current CD drives(CD-ROM's) 63′ or DVD's (DVD-ROM) drives 64′ can be safely located onthe network side of the internal firewall 50, since the data on thosedrives cannot be altered by network users; preemptive control of use mayremain with the PC user.

However, at least a portion of RAM can be kept on the Master 30microprocessor side of the internal firewall 50, so that the PC user canretain the ability to use a core of user PC 1 processing capabilityentirely separate from any network processing. If this capability is notdesired, then the master 30 microprocessor can be moved to the networkside of the internal firewall 50 and replaced with a simpler controlleron the PC 1 user side, like the master remote controller 31 discussedbelow and shown in FIG. 10I.

The master microprocessor 30 may also control the use of several or allother processors 60 owned or leased by the PC user, such as homeentertainment digital signal processors 70, especially if the designstandards of such microprocessors in the future conform to therequirements of network parallel processing as described above. In thisgeneral approach, the PC master processor uses the slave microprocessorsor, if idle (or working on low priority, deferable processing), makesthem available to the network provider or others to use. Wirelessconnections 100, including optical wireless, are expected to beextensively used in home or business network systems, including use of amaster remote controller 31 without (or with) microprocessingcapability, with broad bandwidth connections such as fiber optic cableconnecting directly to at least one component such as a PC 1, shown in aslave configuration, of the home or business personal network system;that connection links the home system to the network 2 such as theInternet 3, as shown in FIG. 10I. A business system may includebroadband such as fiber optic or optical wireless links to most or allpersonal computers PC 1 and other devices with microprocessors, such asprinters, copiers, scanners, fax machines, telephone and videoconferencing equipment; other wired or wireless links also can be used.

A PC 1 user can remotely access his networked PC 1 by using anothernetworked master microprocessor 30 on another PC 1 and using a passwordor other access control means for entry to his own PC 1 mastermicroprocessor 30 and files, as is common now in Internet and otheraccess. Alternately, a remote user can simply carry his own digitallystored files and his own master microprocessor or use another networkedmaster microprocessor temporarily has his own.

In the simplest configuration, as shown in FIG. 10B, the PC 1 may have asingle master microprocessor 30 and a single slave microprocessor 40,separated by an internal firewall 50, with both processors used inparallel or multitasking processing or with only the slave 40 so used,and connected with broad bandwidth such as optical fiber wire 99 to anetwork computer 2 and Internet 3 and successors like the Grid (orMetaInternet). Virtually any number of slave microprocessors 40 ispossible. The other non-microprocessor components shown in FIG. 10Aabove may also be included in this simple FIG. 10B configuration.

As shown in FIG. 10C, microchips 90 are expected to integrate most orall of the other necessary computer components (or their present orfuture equivalents or successors), like a PC's volatile memory like RAM66 (such as DRAM), graphics 82, sound 83, power management 84, networkcommunications 85, and video processing 86, possibly including modem 87,non-volatile memory like flash (or magnetic like MRAM or ovonic unifiedmemory) 88, system BIOS 88′, digital signal processor (DSP) orprocessors 89, and other components or present or future equivalents orsuccessors) and internal bus, on a single chip 90 (silicon, plastic, orother), known in the industry as “system on a chip”. Such a PC microchip90 can have the same architecture as that of the PC 1 shown above inFIG. 10A: namely, a master control and/or processing unit 93 and one ormore slave processing units 94 (for parallel or multitasking processingby either the PC 1 or the Network 2), separated by an internal firewall50 and connected by broad bandwidth wire 99 such as optical fiber cableto a network computer 3 and the Internet 3 and successors like the Grid(or MetaInternet). Alternatively, microchip 90 can be an “appliance”system on a chip.

Existing PC components with mechanical components like hard drive 61,floppy or other removable diskette 62, CD-ROM 63, and DVD 64, which aremass storage devices with mechanical features that will likely notbecome an integral part of a PC “system of a chip” may still be capableof connection to a single PC microchip 90 and control by a single PCmaster unit 93.

In the simplest multi-processor case, as shown in FIG. 10D, the chip 90has a single master unit 93 and at least one slave unit 94 (with themaster having a controlling function only or a processing functionalso), separated by an internal firewall 50 and connected by broadbandwidth wire 99 such as fiber optic cable to a network computer 3 andthe Internet 3 (and successors like the Grid or MetaInternet). The othernon-microprocessor components shown in FIG. 10A above may also beincluded in this simple FIG. 10D configuration.

As noted above, any computer may be both a user and provider,alternatively—a dual mode operating capability. Consequently, any PC 1within the network 2, connected to the Internet 3 and successors likethe Grid (or MetaInternet), can be temporarily a master PC 30 at onetime initiating a parallel or multitasking processing request to thenetwork 2 for execution by at least one slave PC 40, as shown in FIG.10E. At another time the same PC 1 can become a slave PC 40 thatexecutes a parallel or multitasking processing request by another PC 1′that has temporarily assumed the function of master 30, as shown in FIG.10F. The simplest approach to achieving this alternation is for bothmaster and slave versions of the parallel processing software to beloaded in each or every PC 1 that is to share in the parallelprocessing, so each PC 1 has the necessary software means, together withminor operational modifications, such as adding a switching means bywhich a signaled request for parallel processing initiated by one PC 1user using master software is transmitted to at least a second PC 1,triggering its slave software to respond by initiating parallelprocessing.

As shown in FIGS. 10G and 10H, which are parallel to FIGS. 10E and 10F,the number of PC slave processors 40 can be increased to any virtuallyother number, such as at least about 4; as shown, the processing systemis completely scalar, so that further increases can occur to, forexample, about eight, about 16, about 32, about 64, about 128, about256, about 512, about 1024, and so on; the PC master microprocessors 30can also be increased.

In summary, as noted above relative to FIG. 10I, a PC 1 can function asa slave PC 40 and be controlled by a master controller 31, which can beremote and which can have limited or no microprocessing capability, butcan as well have similar or greater capability. As shown in FIGS. 10Jand 10K, such a master controller 31 is located on the PC user side ofthe internal firewall 50, under the control of the PC user, while themicroprocessors 40 reside on the network side of the internal firewall50. The master controller 31 may receive input from the PC user by localmeans such as keyboard, microphone, videocam or future hardware and/orsoftware and/or firmware or other equivalent or successor interfacemeans (as does a master processor 40) that provides input to a PC 1 ormicroprocessor 30 originating from a user's hand, voice, eye, nerve ornerves, or other body part; in addition, remote access by telephone,cable, wireless or other connection may also be enabled by a hardwareand/or software and/or firmware and/or other means with suitablesecurity such as password controlled access. Similarly, as shown inFIGS. 10L and 10M, relative to a PC “system on a chip”, a mastercontroller unit 93′ (which could be capable of being accessed by the PCuser through a remote controller 31) with only a controlling capabilitycan be located on the PC user side of the internal firewall 50, underthe control of the PC user, while the slave processor units 94 wouldreside on the network side of the internal firewall 50.

FIGS. 10N and 10O show PC 1 with an internal firewall 50 that isconfigurable through either hardware and/or software and/or firmwareand/or other means; software configuration is easiest and most typical,but active motherboard hardware configuration is possible and maypresent some security advantages, including a use of manual orelectromechanical or other switches or locks. FIG. 10N shows a CD-ROM63′ that has been placed by a PC user on the network side of an internalfirewall 50 from a previous position on the PC user side of an internalfirewall 50, which was shown in FIG. 10A. The settings of an internalfirewall 50 may default to those that safely protect the PC 1 fromuncontrolled access by network users, but with capability for therelatively sophisticated PC user to override such default settings andyet with proper safeguards to protect the unsophisticated user frominadvertently doing so; configuration of an internal firewall 50 mayalso be actively controlled by a network administrator in a localnetwork like that of a business, where a PC user may not be the owner orleaser of the PC being used, either by remote access on the network orwith a remote controller 31.

Similarly, FIGS. 10P and 10Q show a PC “system on a chip” 90 with aninternal firewall 50 that is configurable through either hardware and/orsoftware and/or firmware and/or other means; software configuration iseasiest and most typical. Active configuration of the integratedcircuits of the PC microchip 90 is also possible and may present somespeed and security advantages. Such direct configuration of the circuitsof the microchip 90 to establish or change its internal firewall 50could be provided by the use of field-programmable gate arrays (orFPGA's) or their future equivalents or successors; microcircuitelectromechanical or other switches or locks can also be usedpotentially. In FIG. 10P, for example, slave processing unit 94′ hasbeen moved to the PC user side of an internal firewall 50 from a networkside position shown in FIGS. 10C and 10L. Similarly, FIG. 10Q shows thesame active configuration of chip circuit using FPGA's for the simplestform of multiprocessing microchip 90 with a single slave unit 94′,transferring its position to the PC user's side of an internal firewall50 from a network side shown in FIGS. 10M and 10D.

In summary, relative to the use of master/slave computers, FIGS. 10A-10Ishow embodiments of a system for a network of computers, includingpersonal computers, comprising: at least two personal computers; meansfor at least one personal computer, when directed by its personal user,to function temporarily as a master personal computer to initiate andcontrol the execution of a computer processing operation shared with atleast one other personal computer in the network; means for at least oneother personal computer, when idled by its personal user, to be madeavailable to function temporarily as at least one slave personalcomputer to participate in the execution of a shared computer processingoperation controlled by the master personal computer; and means for thepersonal computers to alternate as directed between functioning as amaster and functioning as a slave in the shared computer processingoperations. In addition, FIGS. 10A-10H show embodiments including thosewherein the system is scalar in that the system imposes no limit to thenumber of personal computers; for example, the system can include atleast 256 said personal computers; the system is scalar in that thesystem imposes no limit to the number of personal computersparticipating in a single shared computer processing operation,including at least 256 said personal computers, for example; the networkis connected to the Internet and its equivalents and successors, so thatpersonal computers include at least a million personal computers, forexample; the shared computer processing is parallel processing; thenetwork is connected to the World Wide Web and its successors; a meansfor network services, including browsing and broadcast functions, aswell as shared computer processing such as parallel processing, areprovided to said personal computers within said network; the networkincludes at least one network server that participates in the sharedcomputer processing; the personal computers include a transponder orequivalent or successor means so that a master personal computer candetermine the closest available slave personal computers; the closestavailable slave personal computer is compatible with the master personalcomputer to execute said shared computer processing operation; thepersonal computers having at least one microprocessor and communicatingwith the network through a connection means having a speed of datatransmission that is at least greater than a peak data processing speedof the microprocessor; and a local network PC 1 being controlledremotely by a microprocessor controller 31.

Use of the internal firewall 50, as described above in FIGS. 10A-10I,provides a solution to a security problem by completely isolating hostPC's 1 that are providing slave microprocessors to the network forparallel or other shared processing functions from any capability toaccess or retain information about any element about that sharedprocessing. In addition, of course, the internal firewall 50 providessecurity for the host PC against intrusion by outside hackers; byreducing the need for encryption and authentication, the use of internalfirewalls 50 can provide a relative increase in computing speed andefficiency. In addition to computers such as personal computers, theinternal firewall 50 described above could be used in any computingdevice included in this application's above definition of personalcomputers, including those with “appliance”-type microprocessors, suchas telephones, televisions or cars, as discussed above.

In summary, regarding the use of internal firewalls, FIGS. 10A-10I showembodiments of a system architecture for computers, including personalcomputers, to function within a network of computers, comprising: acomputer with at least two microprocessors and having a connection meanswith a network of computers; the architecture for the computersincluding an internal firewall means for personal computers to limitaccess by the network to only a portion of the hardware, software,firmware, and other components of the personal computers; the internalfirewall means will not permit access by the network to at least a onemicroprocessor having a means to function as a master microprocessor toinitiate and control the execution of a computer processing operationshared with at least one other microprocessor having a means to functionas a slave microprocessor; and the internal firewall means permittingaccess by the network to the slave microprocessor. In addition, thesystem architecture explicitly includes embodiments of, for example, thecomputer is a personal computer; the personal computer is a microchip;the computer has a control means by which to permit and to deny accessto the computer by the network for shared computer processing; thesystem is scalar in that the system imposes no limit to the number ofpersonal computers, including at least 256 said personal computers, forexample; the network is connected to the Internet and its equivalentsand successors, so that the personal computers include at least amillion personal computers, for example; the system is scalar in thatthe system imposes no limit to the number of personal computersparticipating in a single shared computer processing operation,including at least 256 said personal computers, for example; thepersonal computers having at least one microprocessor and communicatingwith the network through a connection means having a speed of datatransmission that is at least greater than a peak data processing speedof the microprocessor.

In summary, regarding the use of controllers with internal firewalls,FIGS. 10J-10M show embodiments of a system architecture for computers,including personal computers, to function within a network of computers,comprising for example: a computer with at least a controller and amicroprocessor and having a connection means with a network ofcomputers; the architecture for the computers including an internalfirewall means for personal computers to limit access by the network toonly a portion of the hardware, software, firmware, and other componentsof the personal computers; the internal firewall means will not permitaccess by the network to at least a one controller having a means toinitiate and control the execution of a computer processing operationshared with at least one microprocessor having a means to function as aslave microprocessor; and the internal firewall means permitting accessby the network to the slave microprocessor. In addition, the systemarchitecture explicitly includes embodiments of, for example, thecomputer is a personal computer; the personal computer is a microchip;the computer has a control means by which to permit and to deny accessto the computer by the network for shared computer processing; thesystem is scalar in that the system imposes no limit to the number ofpersonal computers, including at least 256 said personal computers, forexample; the network is connected to the Internet and its equivalentsand successors, so that the personal computers include at least amillion personal computers, for example; the system is scalar in thatthe system imposes no limit to the number of personal computersparticipating in a single shared computer processing operation,including at least 256 said personal computers, for example; thepersonal computers having at least one microprocessor and communicatingwith the network through a connection means having a speed of datatransmission that is at least greater than a peak data processing speedof the microprocessor; and the controller being capable of remote use.

In summary, regarding the use of internal firewalls that can be activelyconfigured, FIGS. 10N-10Q show embodiments of a system architecture forcomputers, including personal computers, to function within a network ofcomputers, comprising for example: a computer with at least twomicroprocessors and having a connection means with a network ofcomputers; the architecture for the computers including an internalfirewall means for personal computers to limit access by the network toonly a portion of the hardware, software, firmware, and other componentsof the personal computers; the internal firewall means will not permitaccess by the network to at least a one microprocessor having a means tofunction as a master microprocessor to initiate and control theexecution of a computer processing operation shared with at least oneother microprocessor having a means to function as a slavemicroprocessor; the internal firewall means permitting access by thenetwork to the slave microprocessor; the configuration of the internalfirewall being capable of change by a user or authorized local networkadministrator; the change in firewall configuration of a microchip PC ismade at least in part using field-programmable gate arrays orequivalents or successors. In addition, the system architectureexplicitly includes embodiments of, for example, the computer is apersonal computer; the personal computer is a microchip; the computerhas a control means by which to permit and to deny access to thecomputer by the network for shared computer processing; the system isscalar in that the system imposes no limit to the number of personalcomputers, including at least 256 said personal computers; the networkis connected to the Internet and its equivalents Sand successors, sothat the personal computers include at least a million personalcomputers; the system is scalar in that the system imposes no limit tothe number of personal computers participating in a single sharedcomputer processing operation, including at least 256 said personalcomputers; the personal computers having at least one microprocessor andcommunicating with the network through a connection means having a speedof data transmission that may be at least greater than a peak dataprocessing speed of the microprocessor.

PC 1 or PC general purpose microprocessors 90 may be designedhomogeneously to the same basic consensus industry standard as parallelmicroprocessors for PC's (or equivalents or successors) as in FIGS.10A-10B or for PC “systems on a chip” discussed in FIGS. 10C-10D.Although the cost per microprocessor might rise somewhat initially, thenet cost of computing for all users is expected to fall drasticallyalmost instantly due to the significant general performance increasecreated by the new capability to use of heretofore idle “appliance”microprocessors. The high potential for very substantial benefit to allusers may provide a powerful force to reach consensus on industryhardware, software, and other standards on a continuing basis for suchbasic parallel network processing designs utilizing the Internet 3 andWWW and successors. Such basic industry standards may be adopted at theoutset of system design and for use of only the least number of sharedmicroprocessors initially. Such basic industry homogeneous standards maybe adopted at the outset and for the least number of sharedmicroprocessors initially, and design improvements incorporating greatercomplexity and more shared microprocessors may be phased in graduallyover time on a step-by-step basis, so that conversion to the Grid (orMetaInternet) or architecture at all component levels may be relativelyeasy and inexpensive. The scalability of the Grid (or MetaInternet)system architecture (both vertically and horizontally) as describedherein makes this approach possible.

By 1998, manufacturing technology improvements allow 20 milliontransistors to fit on a single chip (with circuits as thin as 0.25microns) and, in the next cycle, 50 million transistors using 18 microncircuits. That entire computer on a chip may be directly linked by fiberoptic or wireless optic or other broad bandwidth connection means to thenetwork so that the limiting factor on data throughput in the networksystem, or any part, may be only the speed of the linked microprocessorsthemselves, not the transmission speed of the network linkage. Suchdirect fiber or wireless optic linkage and integration of volatilememory (RAM like DRAM (dynamic random access memory) or equivalent), ornon-volatile memory (like flash, magnetic, such as MRAM, or ovonicmemory), on the “system on a chip” microchip obviates an increasinglyunwieldy number of microchip connection prongs, which is currently inthe three to four hundred range in the Intel Pentium and Pentium Proseries and will reach over a thousand prongs in the 1998 IBM Power3microprocessor. One or more digital signal processors 89 and one or moreall optical switches 92 located on a microprocessor 90 (or 30 or 40),together with numerous channels and/or signal multiplexing (such as wavedivision) of the fiber optic signal can substitute for a vast multitudeof microchip connection prongs.

For computers that are not reduced to a single chip, the internal systembus or buses of any such PC's may have a transmission speed that is atleast high enough that all processing operations of the PCmicroprocessor or microprocessors are unrestricted (and other PCcomponents like RAM such as DRAM) and that the microprocessor chip orchips are directly linked by fiber optic or other broad bandwidthconnection, as with the system chip described above, so that thelimiting factor on data throughput in the network system, or any part,is only the speed of the linked microprocessors themselves, not thetransmission speed of the linkage.

The individual user PC's may be connected to the Internet (via anintranet)/Internet II/WWW or successor, like the Grid (or MetaInternet)network by any electromagnetic or optical means, such as with the veryhigh transmission speed provided by the broad bandwidth of opticalconnections like fiber optic cable. Hybrid systems using fiber opticcable for trunk lines and coaxial cable to individual users may be used.Given the speed and bandwidth of transmission of fiber optic orequivalent or successor connections, conventional network architectureand structures should be acceptable for good system performance, makingpossible a virtual complete interconnection network between users.

However, the best speed for any parallel processing operation may beobtained, all other things being equal, by utilizing the availablemicroprocessors that are physically the closest together. Consequently,as shown previously in FIG. 8, the network needs the means (throughhardware and/or software and/or firmware and/or other component) toprovide on a continually ongoing basis the capability for each PC toknow the addresses of the nearest available PC's, perhaps sequentially,from closest to farthest, for the area or cell immediately proximate tothat PC and then those cells of adjacent areas.

Network architecture that clusters PC's together is not mandatory andcan be constructed by wired means. However, as shown in FIG. 11, it maybe very beneficial to construct local network clusters 101 (or cells) ofpersonal computers 1′ by wireless 100 means, especially optical wirelessand dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM), since physical proximity ofany PC 1 to its closest other PC 1′ may be easier to access directlythat way, as discussed further below. Since optical wireless range isabout 3 kilometers currently, large clusters communicating withbroadband connections are possible. In addition, at least severalnetwork providers may serve any given geographic area to providecompetitive service and prices.

Those wireless PC connections may be PC-resident and capable ofcommunicating by wireless or wired (or mixed) means with all availablePC's in the cluster or cell geographic area, both proximal andpotentially out to the practical limits of the wireless transmission.

As shown in FIG. 12, wireless PC connections 100 can be made to existingnon-PC network components, such as one or more satellites 110, orpresent or future equivalent or successor components and the wirelesstransmissions can be conventional radio waves, such as infrared ormicrowave, or can utilize any other part of the electromagnetic wavespectrum, particularly including optical, and can utilize dense wavedivision multiplexing (DWDM) to create numerous channels.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 13, such a wireless or wired approach alsomakes it possible to develop network clusters 101 of available PC's 1with complete interconnectivity; i.e., each available PC 1 in thecluster 101 may be connected wirelessly 100 (including optical wirelessand DWDM) to every other available PC 1 in the cluster 101, constantlyadjusting to individual PC's becoming available or unavailable. Giventhe speed of some wired broad bandwidth connections, like fiber opticcable, such clusters 101 with virtual complete interconnectivity iscertainly a possible embodiment even for PCs with wired connections.

As shown in FIG. 14A-14D, such wireless systems may include a wirelessdevice 120 comprising hardware and/or software and/or firmware and/orother component, like the PC 1 availability device described aboveresident in the PC, but also with a network-like capability of measuringthe relative distance from each PC 1 in its cluster 101 by that PC'ssignal transmission by transponder or its functional equivalent and/orother means to the nearest other PC's 1′ in the cluster 101. As shown inFIG. 14A, this distance measurement could be accomplished in aconventional manner between transponder devices 120 connected to each PCin the cluster 101; for example, by measuring in effect the time delayfrom wireless transmission, optical or other and including DWDM, by thetransponder device 120 of an interrogating signal 105 to requestinitiation of shared processing by a master PC 1 to the reception of awireless transmission response 106 signaling availability to function asa slave PC from each of the idle PC's 1′ in the cluster 101 that hasreceived the interrogation signal 105. The first response signal 106′received by the master PC 1 is from the closest available slave PC 1″(assuming the simplest shared processing case of one slave PC and onemaster PC), which is selected for the shared processing operation by therequesting master PC 1, since the closer the shared microprocessor, thefaster the speed of the wireless connections 100 is between sharing PC's(assuming equivalence of the connection means and other components amongeach of the PC's 1′). The interrogation signal 105 may specify otherselection criteria also, for example, for the closest compatible(initially perhaps defined by a functional requirement of the system tobe an identical microprocessor) slave PC 1″, with the first responsesignal 106′ being selected as above.

This same transponder approach also can be used between PC's 1″connected by a wired 99 (or mixed wired/wireless) means, despite thefact that connection distances would generally be greater (since notline of sight, as is wireless), as shown in FIG. 14A, since the speed oftransmission by broad bandwidth transmission means such as fiber opticcable is so high as to offset that greater distance. From a cost basis,this wired approach may be employed for such PC's already connected bybroad bandwidth transmission means since additional wireless componentslike hardware and software are not necessary. In that case, afunctionally equivalent transponder device 120 may be operated in wiredclusters 101 in generally the same manner as described above for PC'sconnected in wireless clusters 101. Networks incorporating PC's 1connected by both wireless and wired (or mixed) means are anticipated,like the home or business network mentioned in FIG. 10I, with mobilePC's or other computing devices using wireless connections. Depending ondistances between PC's and other factors, a local cluster 101 of anetwork 2 may connect wirelessly between PC's and with the network 2through transponding means linked to wired broad bandwidth transmissionmeans, as shown in FIG. 14C.

As shown in FIG. 14D, the same general transponder device means 120 canalso be used in a wired 100 network system 2 employing network servers98 operated, for example, by an ISP, or in any other network systemarchitectures (including client/server or peer to peer) or any othertopologies (including ring, bus, and star) either well known now in theart or their future equivalents or successors.

The FIG. 14 approach to establishing local PC clusters 101 for parallelor other shared processing avoids using network computers such asservers (and, if wireless, other network components including evenconnection means), so that the entire local system of PC's within acluster 101 operates independently of network servers, routers, etc.Moreover, particularly if connected by wireless means, including opticalwireless and DWDM, the size of the cluster 101 could be quite large,being limited generally by PC wireless transmission power, PC wirelessreception sensitivity, and local and/or other conditions affectingtransmission and reception. Additionally, one cluster 101 couldcommunicate by wireless 100 means with adjacent, overlapping, or otherclusters 101, as shown in FIG. 14B, which could thereby include thosebeyond its own direct transmission range.

To improve response speed in shared processing involving a significantnumber of slave PC's 1, a virtual potential parallel processing networkfor PC's 1 in a cluster 101 may be established before a processingrequest begins. This is accomplished by the transponder device 120 ineach idle PC 1, a potential slave, broadcasting by transponder 120 itsavailable state when it becomes idle and/or periodically afterwards, sothat each potential master PC 1 in the local cluster 101 is able tomaintain relatively constantly its own directory 121 of the idle PC's 1closest to it that are available to function as slaves. The directory121 may contain, for example, a list of about the standard use number ofslave PC's 1 for the master PC (which initially probably is just oneother PC 1″) or a higher number, listed sequentially from the closestavailable PC to the farthest. The directory of available slave PC's 1may be updated on a relatively up-to-date basis, either when a changeoccurs in the idle state of a potential slave PC in the directory 121 orperiodically.

Such ad hoc clusters 101 should be more effective by being lessarbitrary geographically, since each individual PC is effectively in thecenter of its own ad hoc cluster. Scaling up or down the number ofmicroprocessors required by each PC at any given time is also moreseamless.

The complete interconnection provided by such ad hoc wireless clustersis also remarkable because such clusters mimic the neural networkstructure of the animal brain, wherein each nerve cell, called a neuron,interconnects in a very complicated way with the neurons around it. Byway of comparison, the global network computer described above that isexpected in a decade can have at least about 10 times as many PC's as ahuman brain has neurons and they can be connected by electromagneticwaves traveling at close to the speed of light, which is about 300,000times faster than the transmission speed of human neurons (which,however, are much closer together).

As individual PC's continue to become much more sophisticated and morenetwork oriented, compatibility issues may decrease in importance, sinceall major types of PC's will be able to emulate each other and mostsoftware, particularly relative to parallel processing, may no longer behardware-specific. However, to achieve maximum speed and efficiency, itis beneficial to set compatible hardware, software, firmware, and othercomponent standards to realize potential performance advantagesattainable with homogeneous parallel processing components of the globalnetwork computer.

Until that compatibility or homogeneity is designed into the essentialcomponents of network systems, the existing incompatibility orheterogeneity of current components increases the difficulty involved inparallel processing across large networks. Even so, the use of messagepassing interfaces (MPI) and parallel virtual machines (PVM), forexample, has made massively parallel processing between heterogeneouspersonal computers fairly easy for uncoupled operations, as shown forexample in the Beowulf operating system, Globus, and the Legion system,from which has been derived Applied Meta. Programming languages likeJava provide a partial means for dealing with the heterogeneity problem,whereas Linux provides greater speed and efficiency. In addition, usingsimilar configurations of existing standards, like using PC's availableon the Internet (with its vast resources) with a specific Intel Pentiumchip with other identical or nearly identical PC components is probablythe best way in the current technology to eliminate many of the seriousexisting problems that can easily be designed around using availabletechnologies by adopting reasonable consensus standards for homogeneousspecification of all parallel processing system components, bothnetworks and computers. The potential gains to all parties with aninterest far outweigh the potential costs.

The above described global network computer system has an added benefitof reducing the serious and growing problem of the nearly immediateobsolescence of PC and other computer hardware, software, firmware, andother components. Since the system above is the sum of its constituentparts used in parallel processing, each specific PC component becomesless critical. As long as access to the network utilizing sufficientbandwidth is possible, then all other technical inadequacies of theuser's own PC can be completely compensated for by the network's accessto a multitude of technically able PC's of which the user will havetemporary use.

Although the global network computer will clearly cross the geographicalboundaries of nations, its operation is not likely to be unduly boundedby inconsistent or arbitrary laws within those individual states. Therewill be considerable pressure on all nations to conform to reasonablesystem architecture and operational standards generally agreed upon,since the penalty of potential exclusion from a global network computersystem like the Internet/WWW is potentially so high as to not bepolitically possible any in any country.

As shown in FIG. 15, because the largest number of user PC's arecompletely idle, or nearly so, during the night, it can be useful forthe most complicated large scale parallel processing, involving thelargest numbers of processors with uninterrupted availability as closetogether as possible, to be routed by the network to geographic areas ofthe globe undergoing night and to keep them there even as the Earthrotates by shifting computing resources as the world turns. As shown inthe simplest case in FIG. 15, during the day, at least one parallelprocessing request by at least one PC 1 in a network 2 in the Earth'swestern hemisphere 131 is transmitted by very broad bandwidth connectionwired 99 means such as fiber optic cable to the Earth's easternhemisphere 132 for execution by at least one PC 1′ of a network 2′,which is idle during the night, and the results are transmitted back bythe same means to network 2 and the requesting at least one PC 1.

Any number of individual PC's within local networks like that operatedby an ISP can be grouped into clusters or cells, as is typical in thepractice of the network industry. As is common in operating electricalpower grids and telecommunications and computer networks, many suchprocessing requests from many PC's and many networks could be so routedfor remote processing, with the complexity of the system growingsubstantially over time in a natural progression.

Alternatively, for greater security or simplicity, nighttime parallelprocessing can remain within a relatively local area and emphasizerelatively massively parallel processing by larger entities such asbusiness, government, or universities for relatively complicatedapplications that benefit from comparatively long nightly periods oflargely uninterrupted use of significant numbers of slave personalcomputers PC 1.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-15 can be combined with one ormore of any other of FIGS. 1-15 of this application to provide a usefulimprovement over the art.

While the conventional approach to configuring a network of personalcomputers PC 1 for parallel processing is simply to string them togetherin a simple bus-type architecture, as shown previously in FIG. 9, FIGS.16A-16Z and 16AA show a new hierarchical network topology.

Although the FIG. 9 network structure is simple and produces reasonableresults in loosely coupled problems like geographic searches describedearlier, as a general approach it has at least three important problems.

First, as the number of personal computers PC 1 being used in thenetwork grows, an increasingly greater deal of complex pre-operationplanning and custom tailoring-type programming at the master PC 1 levelis required to establish a means for allocating portions of theoperation among the large number of available personal computers PC 1′.

Second, operational results coming back to PC 1 from personal computersPC 1′ are not synchronized, so that PC 1 frequently alternates betweenbeing idle and being overwhelmed. When the number of personal computersPC 1′ is very large, both problems can be significant; when the numberis massive, the problems can be overwhelming and seriously degrade theoperation of the network.

Third, generally there are no means established for personal computersPC to communicate or cooperate with each other during such networkoperations, so sharing operational results during processing betweenpersonal computers PC 1′ is usually not feasible, especially when largenumbers of PC 1 are involved. Consequently, closely coupled problems aregenerally not amenable to solution by conventional parallel processingby computers using a simple bus-type network like FIG. 9.

The new hierarchical network topology shown in FIG. 16A is a simplesubdivision step whereby a personal computer PC 1 (or equivalent PC on amicroprocessor chip 90) or microprocessor 30 acting as a master M₁divides a given operation into two parts (for example, two halves), thensends by an optical or electrical connection such as optical fiber orwire 99 the one half parts to each of two connected available slavepersonal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30,as shown one processing level down as S₂₁ and S₂₂. The topology of FIG.16A (and subsequent FIG. 16) can be connected to the Internet 3 andWorld Wide Web, for example.

FIG. 16B shows that slave personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor90) or microprocessor 40 located at S₂₁ has temporarily adopted the samefunctional role as a master to repeat the same subdivision of the givenoperation. Therefore, having already been divided in half once in FIG.16A, the given operation is again subdivided in FIG. 16B, this time inhalf into quarters of the original operation (for example) by S₇₁, whichthen sends one quarter to each of two additional available slavepersonal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 40located at S₃₁ and S₃₂.

FIG. 16C shows personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) ormicroprocessors 40 at S₃₁ and S₃₂ sending operational results back toS₂₁ after performing the processing required by the given operation,instead of repeating again the subdivision process. That processingaction by S₃₁ and S₃₂ can be dictated by pre-established programcriteria, for example by automatically defaulting to operationalprocessing at the S₃ level after two subdivision processes as shownabove, so that the operation can be processed in parallel by fouravailable slave personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) ormicroprocessors 40. Alternately, as another example, the criteria can bea user preference command overriding an otherwise automatic default tolevel three processing in order to specify some other level ofprocessing involving more or less slave PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90)or microprocessors 40.

Similarly, in FIG. 16A above, the personal computer PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) or microprocessor 40 acting as master M₁ also caninitiate the parallel processing operation (or, alternatively, amulti-tasking operation) on the basis of preset program parametersthrough software, hardware, or firmware or other means; parameterexamples again may be pre-set automatic default or user preferenceoverride.

Like FIG. 16C, FIG. 16D shows operational results being passed back tothe next higher level, this time from slave personal computers PC 1 (orPC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 40, S₂₁ and S₂₂, to masterpersonal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30,M₁, where the operation is completed after the S₂₁ and S₂₂ results areconsolidated.

FIG. 16G shows master personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90)or microprocessor 30, M₁, offloading by wireless connection 100, such asoptical wireless and DWDM for example, the entire parallel processingoperation to an available slave personal computer PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) or microprocessor 40 that temporarily functions as S₁in the place of M₁ on the first processing level for the duration of thegiven parallel processing (or multi-tasking) operation, the first stepof which the operation is shown in FIG. 16H, which is like FIG. 16Aexcept as shown.

FIG. 16I shows a personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) ormicroprocessor 40 that is executing a command to function in the slaverole of S₂₁ for a given operation but has become unavailable, or wasunavailable initially (due, for example, to interruption for anotherhigher priority command by its user or to malfunction), when results ofthe given operation from a lower parallel processing level are passed toS₂₁. In that situation, S₂₁ (or S₃₁ or S₃₂) can simply offload thoseresults to another personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) ormicroprocessor 30 (or 40) that is then available and it can become S₂₁and take over the role of S₂₁ in the given operation for the duration ofthat operation. Similarly, the role of any unavailable or malfunctioningmaster or slave PC 1 or microprocessor 90, 30, or 40 can be transferredto an available functioning one.

As shown in FIG. 16J, S₂₁ then completes the parallel processingoperation and passes its portion of the operational results to M₁.

The offloading capability of functional roles of master and slavepersonal computers PC 1 (and PC microprocessors 90) and microprocessors30 (and 40) from unavailable to available PC 1, 30 and 40 as shown inFIGS. 16G-16J can also be used in previous Figures in this application.In the simplest case initially, all processing roles of personalcomputers PC 1 (and PC microprocessors 90) and microprocessors (30 or40), like S₂₁, above can be determined at the beginning of an operationbased on availability (based on non-use and lack of malfunctioningcomponent) and remain unaltered until the end of the operation. But,with more sophisticated system software and hardware and firmware,during an operation any number of the processing roles can be offloadedfrom personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) ormicroprocessors 30 (or 40) to others as required, even multiple timesand many simultaneously.

FIG. 16E shows the multi-processing network topology of FIGS. 16A-16J ina larger scale embodiment, including all personal computers PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessors 90) or microprocessors 30 (or 40) that are participatingin a typical operation, including in this example one personal computerPC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30 (or 40) at levelone; two at level two; four at level three; and eight at level four. Thenetwork topology is completely scalar in that any practical number ofadditional processing levels or personal computers PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessors 90) or microprocessors 30 (or 40) can be added to thoseshown. Topologies limited to just two (or three) levels are alsopossible, which is the simplest case of operation processing subdivisionthat distinguishes over the conventional FIG. 9 single level“string-together” architecture.

The number of processing personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors90) or microprocessors 40 doubles at each additional processing leveland therefore can be represented by 2^(N), where N is the last or finalprocessing level; for the simplest case, as shown above, which issplitting one given operation into two parts such as halve's betweeneach level.

Instead of subdividing one operation as above, two separate parallelprocessing operations can be multi-tasked on separate branches, such asS₂₁ and S₂₂ as shown, using the same network architecture describedabove. As is clear from this example, any practical mix of multi-taskingand/or parallel processing is possible using the above networkarchitecture.

FIG. 16E shows the distribution of a given parallel processing (ormulti-tasking) operation as routed through a four level virtual network,beginning at M₁. “Virtual” as used here means temporary, since in thenext parallel operation originating at M₁ it may be the case that manyof the personal computers PC 1 (or microprocessors 90) ormicroprocessors 30 (or 40) that had been available for a previousoperation would not still be available for the next operation.

FIG. 16E shows a binary tree network architecture for the initialdistribution of an operation from M₁ down through four slave processinglevels, while FIG. 16F shows the subsequent processing and accumulationof results back from there to M₁ FIG. 16F shows an inverted view of FIG.16E to show the sequence of the operation, from operation distributionin FIG. 16E to result accumulation in FIG. 16F.

More specifically, FIG. 16F shows the processing slave personalcomputers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 40 at thefourth level, S₄₁ through S₄₈, where they process the operation toproduce results which are then routed back through two other levels ofthe virtual network to M₁.

In the routing of operational results shown in FIG. 16F, each slavepersonal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 40has the capability to either simply pass through those results only as adirect communication link or connection; or, alternatively, for example,to consolidate those results sent from the personal computers PC 1 (orPC microprocessor 90) or microprocessors 40 at a lower level; or, toprovide additional other processing based on those lower processinglevel results.

Such consolidation or additional processing can reduce or eliminateduplicative data from a search or other operation producing duplicativeresults and can also serve to buffer the originating master M₁ fromoverloading caused by many sets of results arriving at M₁ in the FIG. 9single processing level architecture in an uncoordinated fashion fromwhat may be a large number of slave personal computers PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) or microprocessors 40. Such a consolidation role forpersonal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessors 40substantially reduces or eliminates the excessive custom pre-planningand synchronization problems of the conventional FIG. 9 network topologydiscussed above.

FIG. 16K shows a simple example indicative of the extremely complicatednetwork structure that can result from subdividing a given operation inwhich the complexity of the operation involved is not uniform, due to,for example, variations in the data. In this example, pre-set programsplitting criteria can be employed that balances the processing load ofeach slave personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) ormicroprocessor 40. With this approach, the complex portions of a givenoperation can automatically draw greater resources in the form ofadditional splitting of that more difficult portion of the problem, sothat additional levels of parallel processing slave personal computersPC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 40 can be broughtinto the virtual network to process the operation, as shown in the leftbranch of FIG. 16K.

FIG. 16K is a fairly simple example, but when the same kind of dynamicnetwork structure is applied to a virtual network using many morepersonal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessors 30or 40 and many processing levels, involving both micro levels in PCmicroprocessor chips 90 and macro levels in personal computers PC 1networks (such as shown later in FIG. 20B), then the potentialcomplexity of the virtual network increases significantly. For example,each PC microprocessor chip 90 may have 64 slave microprocessors 94 onthe final processing level; each personal computer PC 1 may have 64slave PC microprocessor chips 90 at the final processing level, and thevirtual network may include 64 personal computers PC 1 at the finalprocessing level. With this large number of physical resources available(which can of course be very substantially greater) to the virtualnetwork created by processing a given operation or operations, like thatshown in FIG. 16K, it is clear that the operation itself can sculpt anincredibly complex virtual network that is custom tailored to thespecific operation. All that is required is a operation subdivisionprocess as described earlier that can be resident in each PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30 or 40, or that can be passedalong with data (as can be operation application software) as theoperation is executed.

Thus, FIG. 16K shows an example of a highly flexible virtual networkarchitecture that is capable of being dynamically configured in realtime by the processing requirements imposed on the components of thenetwork by a specific given operation and its associated data, asallowed by the network hardware/software/firmware architecture.

FIGS. 16L and 16M show examples of other possible subdivision parallelprocessing methods, such as subdivision routing to three slave personalcomputers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 40 at thenext level down, as shown in FIG. 16L, or subdivision routing to fourslave personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) ormicroprocessors 40, as shown in FIG. 16M. Subdivision routing to anypractical number of slave personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors90) or microprocessors 40 between processing levels can be done.

Such routing subdivision can also vary between processing levels or evenwithin the same processing level, as shown in FIG. 16N; these exemplaryvariations can result from pre-set program criteria such as those thatbalance operational loads, like those shown previously in FIG. 16K. Themeans for subdividing problems for parallel or multitasking processingcan also vary, within at least a range of methods known in the computerand mathematical arts.

FIG. 16O shows slave personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) ormicroprocessor 40, S₄₁, sending operational results to a higherprocessing level, S₃₁, which can then function as a router or as one ormore high speed switch 42 (which can be located as 92 on a PCmicroprocessor 90 also, including as an all optical switch), passingthrough unaltered results back down to the original level to personalcomputer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 40, S₄₂, asshown in FIG. 16P. FIG. 16Q demonstrates the capability for any two pairof slave personal computers PC 1 (or PC microprocessors 90) ormicroprocessors 40 like S₄₁, and S₄₂ to communicate directly betweeneach other, including wired or wirelessly 100 as shown. FIGS. 16O-16Qshow the same subsection of the network topology shown in FIG. 16F (theleft uppermost portion).

A personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30(or 40) located on a higher processing level in the network architecturesuch as S₃₁ can process results as well as route them, as shown in FIG.16V, in which S₃₁ receives results from S₄₁ and S₄₂ at a lowerprocessing level and then processes that data before sending itsprocessing results to a higher level to S₂₁, as shown in FIG. 16W.

Together, FIGS. 16V-16W and 160-16Q show the capability of any personalcomputer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 30 (or 40) ofthe FIGS. 16F (and 16E) network structural and functional invention tocommunicate with any other personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor90) or microprocessor 30 (or 40) participating in a given parallelprocessing (or multi-tasking) operation. That communication can take theform of simple pass-through of unmodified results or of modification ofthose results by processing at any level.

FIGS. 16X-16Z show the applicant's new hierarchical network structureand function applied to the design of a personal computer PC 1, asdiscussed previously in FIGS. 10A and 10B. FIG. 16X shows the simplestgeneral design, with a master M₁ microprocessor 30 and two slave S₂₁ andS₂₂ microprocessors 40. FIG. 16Y shows the same network structure withan additional level of slave microprocessors 40, S₃₁ through S₃₄, whileFIG. 16Z shows the same network structure as FIG. 16Y with an additionallevel of slave microprocessors 40, S₄₁ through S₄₈. As shown in theseexamples, this network structure is completely scalar, including anypractical number of slave microprocessors 40 on any practical number ofprocessing levels.

FIG. 16AA shows a useful embodiment in which each microprocessor 30 and40 has, in addition to internal cache memory, its own random accessmemory (RAM) 66 or equivalent memory (volatile like DRAM or non-volatilelike Flash memory, magnetic such as MRAM memory, or ovonic unifiedmemory), integrated on-microchip 90 or separate off-microchip. Asignificant amount of such microchip RAM (volatile like DRAM ornon-volatile like Flash memory, magnetic such as MRAM memory, or ovonicunified memory), significantly greater than cache memory (SRAM) andother on-chip memory used on microprocessor chips today, can bebeneficial in improving the efficient operation of the microprocessor;if located off microprocessor chip, the size of such memory cansubstantially exceed the size of the associated microprocessor, but anon-micro-processor chip location for DRAM or Flash (or MRAM or ovonicmemory), like cache (SRAM) memory, offers the best potential forimproving microprocessor speed and efficiency. The design can alsoincorporate (or substitute) conventional shared memory or RAM 66′ (i.e.memory used by all, or some, of the microprocessors 30 or 40 (or 90) ofthe personal computer PC 1).

FIGS. 16R-16T are parallel to FIGS. 16X-16Z above, but show PCmicroprocessor 90 architecture rather than macro PC 1 architecture; a PCmicroprocessor 90 is as earlier described in FIG. 10C, a personalcomputer on a microchip.

FIG. 16U is like FIG. 16AA, also except for showing PC microprocessor 90architecture instead of PC 1 architecture. FIG. 16U shows a usefulembodiment in which each PC microprocessor 93 or 94 has its ownintegrated on-microchip (or separate off microchip) random access memory(RAM) 66 or equivalent memory (volatile like DRAM or non-volatile, likeFlash memory, magnetic such as MRAM memory, or ovonic unified memory). Asignificant amount of such RAM or other memory, significantly greaterthan cache (SRAM) memory or other on-microchip memory used onmicroprocessor chips today, can be beneficial in improving the efficientoperation of the microprocessor; if located off-microprocessor chip, thesize of such memory can substantially exceed the size of the associatedmicroprocessor, but an on-microprocessor chip 90 location for DRAM orFlash (or MRAM or ovonic memory), like cache (SRAM) memory, offers thebest potential for improving microprocessor speed and efficiency. Themicrochip design can also incorporate (or substitute) conventionalshared memory or RAM 66′ (i.e. memory used by all, or some, of the PCmicroprocessors 93 or 94 of the personal computer PC microprocessor 90).

FIGS. 16R-16U show a different and improved basic microchip architecturewhich can exclude or reduce the currently used superscalar approach inmicroprocessors to execute multiple instructions during each clockcycle. The FIGS. 16R-16U architecture is much simpler and, byintegrating memory with microprocessor, reduces memory bottlenecks. Thesimplicity of the FIGS. 16R-16U microchip design, which may have littleor no superscalar components, compared to conventional superscalardesigns (the inherent extreme complexity of which creates a verysubstantial memory overhead), can result in the use of a much greaterproportion of independent, non-superscalar processors per microchip,exclusive of integrating memory or RAM 66 onto the microprocessor chip90, as discussed in FIG. 16U.

FIGS. 16X-16Z and 16AA, by using the same architecture for PC 1 networksas FIGS. 16R-16U, import the same advantage of microchip parallelprocessing performance to parallel processing in PC 1 networks.

FIG. 16AB shows a direct connection of optical fiber 99 from Internet 3(or another network) to random access memory (RAM) microchip 66′. Theconnection may be at a central portion 140 of RAM chip 66′ to provideequal access to stored data on RAM chip 66′. The direct connection canbe anywhere on RAM chip 66′. Digital signal processor (DSP) 89 is on RAMchip 66′ for connection with optical fiber 99. RAM chip 66′ is forshared memory use among PC's 1 and for broadcast use. RAM chip 66′ caninclude volatile or non-volatile (flash-type) memory. RAM chip 66′ canhave more than one DSP 89, such as shown in FIG. 20B.

All FIGS. 16A-16Z and 16AA-16AB, like the preceding Figures of thisapplication, show sections of a network of personal computers PC 1 (orPC microprocessors 90) or microprocessors 30 or 40 which can be parts ofthe WWW or Internet or Internet II or the Next Generation Internet(meaning connected to it) or Intranets or Extranets or other networks.

Also, except for FIGS. 16R-16T and 16X-16Z, all of the FIG. 16 seriesshow personal computers PC 1 and microprocessors 30 or 40 as occupyingthe same location. This dual representation was done for economy ofpresentation and to show the parallel functionality andinterchangeability in conceptual terms of personal computer PC 1 andmicroprocessors 30 or 40 in the structure of the new network. So, takingFIG. 16A as an example, M₁: S₂₁ and S₂₂ show three personal computers PC1 or, alternatively, one microprocessor 30 and two microprocessors 40.

As noted initially in FIG. 10C, a personal computer PC 1 can be reducedin size to a PC microprocessor chip 90, so preceding Figures showingpersonal computer PC 1 also generally represent PC microprocessor chip90.

Finally, FIGS. 16A-16Z and 16AA-16AB show a mix of electrical andoptical connections, including wired 99, especially connections such asoptical glass fiber or omniguides, and wireless 100, especially wirelessoptical (and mixtures of both in a single FIGURE), and dense wavedivision multiplexing (DWDM). Generally, either 99 or 100 or a mix canbe used relatively interchangeably in the network inventions shown (aswell as in prior Figures), though in some embodiments either highesttransmission speed (i.e. broadest bandwidth) or mobility (or some otherfactor) may dictate a use of wired or wireless. Generally, fiber opticwire 99 and dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) may provide the mostadvantageous transmission means because it has the greatest bandwidth ordata transmission speed, so it may be used for connections betweenpersonal computers and microchips, including direct connections,although optical wireless 100 also offers very high bandwidth,especially with dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM). Other wireless100 (but also including optical wireless), including with DWDM, can beused where mobility is a paramount design criteria.

The FIG. 16 embodiments can be combined with, or modified byincorporating, any other network system architectures (includingclient/server or peer to peer) or any other topologies (including ring,bus, and star) either well known now in the art or their futureequivalents or successors.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 16A-16Z and 16AA-16AB can becombined with any one or more of the preceding or subsequent Figures ofthis application to provide a useful improvement over the art.

The parallel processing network architecture shown in the precedingFIGS. 16A-16Z and 16AA-16AB and in earlier Figures has several featuresunique to its basic design that provide for the security of personalcomputers PC 1 (or PC microprocessor 90) or microprocessor 40 that shareother computers for parallel and multi-tasking processing. First, theslave personal computers PC 1 (or microprocessors 40) each have onlypart of the operation (for large operations, only a very small part) andtherefore unauthorized surveillance of a single PC 1 can provide onlyvery limited knowledge of the entire operation, especially in only arelatively local area in which switching or routing was employed.Second, the addresses of the slave personal computers PC 1 (ormicroprocessors 40) are known or traceable, and therefore are notprotected by anonymity (like hackers usually are) in case ofunauthorized intervention. In addition, cryptography can be employed,with on microprocessor chip 30, 40, or 90 hardware 55 being used in someembodiments due to efficiency, although software and firmware can alsobe used, or a separate PC 1 hardware-based component 56 like anencryption microchip can be used; with either encryption component 55 or56, micro electromechanical locks can be used to prevent access otherthan by the direct physical user; other MicroElectroMechanical System(MEMS) devices located on microchips like PC90 can be used for accessprevention or other functions. Nonetheless, these inherent strengths canbe substantially reinforced, as indicated in FIGS. 17B-17D.

FIG. 17A shows at least one internal firewall 50 performing itsconventional function of keeping out intruders such as hackers from theInternet 3 from unauthorized access for either surveillance of orintervention in, a user's personal computer PC 1 (or PC microprocessor90) or master microprocessor 30.

FIG. 17B shows that, since Internet users can, as enabled by theapplicant's network structure invention, use one or more of the slavemicroprocessors 40 of another's personal computer PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) for parallel (or multi-tasking) processing, the atleast one internal firewall 50 has a dual function in also protectingInternet 3 use (or other shared use on a network) from unauthorizedsurveillance or intervention by a PC 1 owner/user who is providing theshared resources. To maintain the privacy necessary to operate such acooperatively shared network arrangement, unauthorized surveillance orintervention must be carefully prevented by hardware/software/firmwareor other means.

FIG. 17C therefore shows master M personal computer PC 1 (or PCmicroprocessor 90) using the slave S2 microprocessor 40 of a differentpersonal computer, PC 1′, which is available for Internet 3 (or othernet) shared use, while internal firewall 50′ blocks unauthorized accessinto PC by PC 1 (although PC 1′ owner/user can always interrupt a sharedoperation and take back control and use of slave S′ microprocessor 40,which then triggers off-loading action to compensate, as discussed abovein FIGS. 16I-16J).

FIG. 17D is similar to FIG. 17C, but shows a PC microprocessor 90 with aslave microprocessor 94 being used by Internet 3 users (or other net),so that at least one firewall 50 serves both to deny access such assurveillance by master M microprocessor 93 to an Internet 3 parallelprocessing (or multi-tasking) operation on slave S microprocessor 94 andto deny access to master M microprocessor 93 by Internet 3 (or othernet) users of slave S microprocessor 94. At least one internal firewall50 may be implemented by non-configurable hardware at the microchiplevel to provide protection against tampering with the internal firewall50 by a PC 1 user, who has easier access to software or macro hardwaresuch as PC motherboards to alter. PC 90 microchips may employtamper-resistant construction or tamper-proof construction. As such, PC90 microchips may be permanently locked by out-of-specificationconditions or permanently destroyed by attempts at physical access.

Also, nonconfigurable hardware denying access from the network is themost immune to hacking from any outside source, including the Internet,and can therefore be used either for general protection or to protect aninnermost kernel of the most confidential of personal files (such aspasswords or financial data) and the most critical of operating systemcomponents, such as the system bios or access to file alternation.

At the same time, the FIG. 17 and earlier embodiments provide a solutionto digital rights management by providing a highly safe environment forthe owners of digital versions of audio, video, and software copyrightedmaterial. Such copyrighted material as movies, television, music, andapplication or operating system software may be decrypted and controlledon the network user side of the PC 1 or PC 90, while the PC 1 user isdenied access to the decrypted digital version of the copyrightedmaterial. However, the network user can make the material viewable tothe PC 1 user, but not copyable, via the PC 1 and PC 90 microchiparchitecture shown in FIGS. 10A and 10C.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B can be combined withone or more of any of the preceding Figures of this application toprovide a useful improvement over the art.

The flexible network architectures shown earlier in FIG. 16K and otherFIG. 16 series (and other Figures) have many applications and may beused to design improvements and alternatives to the network itself. Inaddition, the flexible network can be used to simulate and designpersonal computers PC 1 and particularly PC microprocessor chips 90 (andother microchips), which may be static or configurable (in response tothe requirements of a given operation, like the FIG. 16K networkarchitecture) or a mix.

The FIG. 16K network architecture has capabilities that substantiallyexceed simulating the fairly simple binary circuit structure of atypical PC microprocessor 90 or other microchip, since any personalcomputer PC 1 or PC microprocessor chip 90 in the FIG. 16K network cansimulate much more than a simple binary circuit on/off state or othersimple microchip circuit. Any PC 1 or PC microprocessor chip 90 in aFIG. 16K network can represent virtually any number of states orconditions simulating any kind of circuit, however complex it might be,the only limit being the processing time required for what can be a verylarge number—thousands or millions—of personal computers PC 1 or PCmicroprocessors 90 to process the simulation; there are only practicalconstraints, not theoretical ones, although increasingly large numbersof processors are expected to be phased in, as discussed before.

One potential related application of prior described network inventionsis to simulate the unique “qubit” component necessary to construct aquantum computer, as well as a virtual quantum computer itself.

FIGS. 18A-18D show designs for a virtual quantum computer or computers.FIG. 18A shows personal computer PC 1 (or microprocessor 90) with theaddition of a software program 151 simulating a “qubit” for a quantumcomputer or computers and thereby becoming a virtual qubit (VQ) 150, akey component of a quantum computer 153. FIG. 18B shows a personalcomputer PC 1 (or microprocessor 90) with a digital signal processor(DSP) 89 connected to a hardware analog device 152 simulating a qubit,with the PC 1 monitoring the qubit through the DSP 89, therebysimulating a virtual qubit (VQ) 150 for a quantum computer 153; thisarrangement allows the option of simultaneous use of the PC 1 throughmulti-tasking for both digital and quantum computing.

FIG. 18C is like FIG. 16A, but incorporates a virtual qubit in PC 1, sothat a virtual quantum computer 153 can have any network architecturelike those shown in FIGS. 16A-16Z and 16AA-16AB, as well as otherFigures of this application.

As shown in FIG. 18D, for example, a virtual qubits (VC) 150 network canprovide complete interconnectivity, like FIG. 13. Virtual qubits VC 150like those described in FIGS. 18A & 18B can be added to or substitutedfor mictoprocessors 30 and 40 in prior FIGS. 16B-16Q and 16V-16AA ofthis application, as well as earlier Figures. As shown by those priorFigures, the number of virtual qubits 150 is limited only to whatever ispractical at any given time; in terms of development, that means as fewas a single qubit 150 in one or more networked personal computers PC 1to begin, but the number of qubits 150 may become extremely large, asindicated in previous Figures. FIG. 18D shows a mix of wired 99 andwireless 100 connections.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 18A-18D can be combined with one ormore of any of the preceding Figures of this application to provide auseful improvement over the art.

Like personal computers located in the home or office, personalcomputers PC 1 in automobiles 170 (including other transportationvehicles or other conveyances) are in actual use only a very smallpercentage of the time, with the average dormant period of non-usetotaling as much as 90 percent or more. Personal computers PC 1 are nowbeing added to some automobiles and will likely become standardequipment over the next decade or so. In addition, automobiles alreadyhave a very large number of microcomputers on board in the form ofspecialized microprocessors 35 which are likely to become generalparallel processors in future designs, as discussed earlier in thisapplication.

Automobiles therefore form a potentially large and otherwise unusedresource for massive parallel processing through the Internet 3 andother networks, as described in earlier Figures. However, when idle andthus generally available for network use, automobiles lack their usualpower source, the engine, which of course is then off, since it is toolarge to efficiently provide electrical power to on board computers,except occasionally. As shown in FIG. 19, the car engine can have acontroller (hardware, software or firmware or combination in the PC 1 orother microprocessor 35), for example, connected to an automobilecomputer network 178 to automatically start the automobile engine inorder to recharge the car battery 171 when the battery is low (and wellbefore the battery is too low to start the engine), but the engineadditionally needs to be controlled as above not to expend all availablefuel automatically.

Alternately, the automobile 170 can be fitted with a very smallauxiliary engine-power electrical power generator 177 to provide powerto the automobile's computer network; the engine of the generator 177can be fed by the main engine fuel tank and controlled as above.

Two solutions, not mutually exclusive, to alleviate (but not solve) thelack of power problem noted above are, first, adding an additional carbattery 171′ for network use (at least primarily) or, second, using asingle battery but adding a controller in the PC 1, for example, thatprevents the existing battery 171 from being discharged to a level nearor below that which is needed to start the automobile 170.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 19, one or more solar power generatingcells or cell arrays 172 can be incorporated in an automobile's outersurface, with generally the most effective placement being on a portionof the upper horizontal surface, such as a portion of the roof, hood, ortrunk. For charging the automobile battery 171 when sunlight is notavailable, such as at night or in a garage, a focused or focusable lightsource 173 can provide external power to the solar panel.

Alternately, a connection device 174 such as a plug for an externalelectrical power source can be installed on or near the outer surface ofthe automobile. In addition, or independently, a connection device 175for an optical fiber (or other wired) external connection to theInternet 3 or other net may be used; an intermediate high transmissionspeed can also exist between the automobile network and a fiber opticconnection to the Internet 3. Alternately, a wireless receiver 176,including optical wireless and/or DWDM, located near where theautomobile is parked, such as in a garage, can provide connectivity fromthe automobile's personal computer or computers PC 1 directly to theInternet 3 or to a network in a home or business like that shown in FIG.10I.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 19 can be combined with one or moreof any of the preceding Figures of this application to provide a usefulimprovement over the art.

FIG. 20A is like FIG. 16Y (and can be combined with FIG. 16AA), but inaddition shows a slave microprocessor 40 functioning as S₁, the functionof master having been temporarily or permanently offloaded to it by M₁microprocessor 30. In addition, FIG. 20A shows the processing level ofslave microprocessors 40, S₃₁ through S₃₄, each with a separateoutput/input communication link to a digital signal processor (DSP) 89or other transmission/reception component; the transmission linkages areshown as 111, 112, 113, and 114, respectively. The DSP 89 can beconnected to a wired 99 means such as optical fiber to the Internet (orother net), although non-optical fiber wire can be used (and probablydoes not require a DSP 89).

FIG. 20B is like FIG. 16S (and can be combined with FIG. 16U), but withthe same new additions described above in FIG. 20A. Like FIG. 16S, FIG.20B shows a detailed view of personal computer PC microprocessor 90 ₁,Which is a personal computer PC on a microchip 90, including two morelevels of parallel processing within the microprocessor 90. In addition,the two new levels of PC microprocessor 90 shown in FIG. 20B are asecond processing level consisting of PC microprocessors 90 ₂₁ through90 ₂₄ and a third processing level consisting of PC microprocessors 90₃₁ through 90 ₃₁₆ (a third level total of 16 microprocessors 90). Eachof the three processing levels shown in the FIG. 20B example isseparated between levels by an intermediate direct connection to theInternet 3 (or other network) and by four output lines from the higherprocessing level. For example, microprocessors 90 ₂₁ through 90 ₂₄ areshown receiving respectively from the outputs 111 through 114 from fourslave microprocessors 94, S₃₁ through S₃₄ of PC microprocessor 90 ₁.

PC microprocessor 90 ₁, is shown in detail including all slavemicroprocessors 94, while other PC microprocessors 90 at the second andthird processing levels are not, for simplicity and conciseness ofpresentation. An additional processing level can be present, but is notshown for the sake of simplicity, and personal computers PC 1 like FIG.20A can be used interchangeably with PC microprocessors 90.

FIG. 20B shows that between each processing level the output links fromevery PC microprocessor 90 can be transmitted from slave microprocessors94 directly to PC microprocessors 90 at the next processing level below,such as from PC microprocessor 90 ₂₁ down to PC microprocessors 90 ₃₁through 90 ₃₄, via the Internet 3 or other net. Each of thetransmission/reception links from those slave processing microprocessors94 (S₃₁ through S₃₄), shown as 111, 112, 113, and 114 for PCmicroprocessor 90 ₁, can be transmitted or received on a differentchannel (and can use multiplexing such as wave or dense wave division,abbreviated as DWDM) on an optical fiber line (because of its hugecapacity, one optical fiber line is expected to be sufficient generally,but additional lines can be used) that may connect directly to PCmicroprocessor chip 90 ₁, which can incorporate a digital signalprocessor 89 or other connection component (of which there can be one ormore) for connecting to the wired connection like fiber optic line, asshown, or wireless connection.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B can be combined withone or more of any of the preceding Figures of this application toprovide a useful improvement over the art.

FIGS. 21A and 21B are like FIGS. 20A and 20B (and therefore also can becombined with FIGS. 16AA and 16U, respectively), but show additionallythat all microprocessors 30, 40, 93, and 94 of PC 1 or PC 90 ₁ can havea separate input/output communication link to a digital signal processor(DSP) or other transmission/reception connection component. Theadditional communications linkages are shown as 141, 142, 143, and 144,which connect to M₁, S₁, S₂₁, and S₂₂, respectively, and connect to thenetwork, including the Internet 3, the WWW, the Grid, and equivalents orsuccessors. Like all preceding and subsequent Figures, FIGS. 21A and 21Bare schematic architectural plans of the new and unique components ofthe parallel processing system invention disclosed in this applicationand can represent either physical connections or virtual relationshipsindependent of hardware. FIG. 21B shows an embodiment in which theadditional linkages lead through the Internet 3 to microprocessors PC 90₂₅-90 ₂₈.

The additional communications linkages 141, 142, 143, and 144, as wellas the original linkages 111, 112, 113, and 114 of FIGS. 20A and 20B,may have a bandwidth sufficiently broad to at least avoid constrainingthe processing speed of microprocessors 30, 40, 93, and 94 connected tothe linkages. The ultra high bandwidth of optical connections likeoptical fiber or omniguides or optical wireless may provide externalconnections between PC 1 and PC 90 ₁ microprocessors that are fargreater than the internal electrical connections or buses of thosemicroprocessors, for example, by a factor of 10, or 100, or 1000, whichare already possible with optical fiber, or 1,000,000, which is possiblewith optical omniguides, which are not limited to a relatively smallerband of wavelengths using DWDM like optical fiber; future increases willbe substantial since the well established rate of increase for opticalbandwidth is much greater than that for microprocessor speed andelectrical connections. Wireless optical antennas that are positioned onthe exterior of houses, buildings, or mobile reception sites, instead ofinside of glass or other windows, should significantly increase thenumber of optical wavelengths that can be sent or received by each ofthe wireless optical antennas; the entire connection is freespaceoptical wireless, which allows for greater dense wave divisionmultiplexing (DWDM) and thereby greater bandwidth.

A major benefit of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 21A-21B is that PC 1and PC 90 ₁ can function like the FIG. 9 embodiment to efficientlyperform operations that are uncoupled, so that each microprocessor M₁,S₁-S₃₄ can operate independently without microprocessors M₁,S₁, andS₂₁-S₂₂ being idled, as they may be in FIGS. 20A and 20B. Anotherbenefit is that for tightly coupled parallel operations, microprocessorsM₁: S₁: and S₂₁-S₂₂ can have broad bandwidth connections withmicroprocessors 30, 40, 93, or 94 that are not located on PC 1 or PC 90₁ Thus the embodiments shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B provide anarchitecture that allows PC 1 or PC 90 ₁ the flexibility to function inparallel operations either like FIGS. 20A-20B embodiments or like theFIG. 9 embodiment, depending on the type of parallel operation beingperformed. Studies indicate that single chip multiprocessors like PC 90₁ can also perform uniprocessor operations with a speed like that ofuniprocessor architectures like wide-issue superscalar or simultaneousmultithreading.

Like FIGS. 20A and 20B, the embodiment of FIGS. 21A and 21B includesbroad bandwidth connection to the Internet 3 by wired means such asoptical connection by fiber optic cable or omniguide or opticalwireless, although other wired or non-wired means can be used withbenefit, and the use of DWDM or wideband CDMA is clearly advantageous.It should be noted that the architecture of the FIGS. 20 and 21embodiments may be particularly advantageous with ultrawidebandcommunication connections.

Another advantage of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B whenfunctioning in the FIG. 9 form of loosely coupled or uncoupled parallelprocessing or multitasking is that if PC 1 or PC 90 ₁ is functioning asa web server and typically uses only one microprocessor to do so, it canquickly add mirror web sites using one or more additionalmicroprocessors to meet increasing volume of visits or other use of theweb site. This replication of web sites on additional microprocessors inresponse to increasing load can also be done using the FIG. 16 form oftightly coupled parallel processing. PC 1 and PC 90 ₁ or any of theirmicroprocessors 30, 40, 93, and 94 or other components can also serve asa switch or a router, including other associatedhardware/software/firmware network components.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B can be combined withone or more of any of the preceding Figures of this application toprovide a useful improvement over the art.

Binary tree configurations of microprocessors shown in FIGS. 16, 20,21A, and 21B can be laid out in 2D using an H-tree configuration, asshown in FIG. 21C, and can be combined with one or more of any of thepreceding Figures of this application to provide a useful improvementover the art.

FIG. 22A shows a microprocessor PC 90 ₁ like that of FIG. 21B, exceptthat FIG. 22A shows the microprocessors 93 and 94 each connecting to anoptical wired interconnection 99′ such as thin mirrored hollow wire oromniguide or optical fiber (and other very broad bandwidth connectionscan be used); the interconnect can include a digital signal processor89′ employed with a microlaser 150, which can be tunable, and othercomponents to transmit and receive digital data for microprocessors 93and 94 into the optical wired interconnects 99′ such as an omniguideusing, for example, a specific wavelength of light for each separatechannel of each separate microprocessor 93 and 94 utilizing dense wavedivision multiplexing (DWDM).

FIG. 22B shows an enlargement of the digital signal processor 89′ withmicrolaser 150 with other transmission and reception components.

FIG. 22A shows a simple bus network connection architecture between theinterconnect 99′ and the microprocessors 93 and 94. However, since theinterconnection 99′ is optical and the bandwidth available is verybroad, the optical connection 99′ allows connections betweenmicroprocessors 93 and 94 in PC 90 ₁ that are functionally equivalent tothose shown in FIG. 21B, which includes a representation of physicalconnections. The interconnects between microprocessors 93 and 94 likeFIG. 21B are shown within the omniguide 99′ shown in FIG. 22A. In fact,the potential bandwidth of the optical interconnect 99′ is so great thatcomplete interconnection between all microprocessors 93 and 94 with PC90 ₁ is possible, even for a much greater number of microprocessorseither in a larger PC 90 ₁, like FIG. 16T for example, or in other PC 90s, such as PC 90 ₂-90 ₂₄ and 90 ₃₁-90 ₃₁₆ in FIGS. 20B and 21B connectedto PC 90 ₁ through a network such as the Internet 3, the WWW, or theGrid; consequently, any conventional network structure can beimplemented. Consequently, the embodiment shown in FIG. 22A has theflexibility of those of FIGS. 21A and 21B to function in paralleloperations like either the FIGS. 20A-20B embodiments or like the FIG. 9embodiment, depending on the type of parallel operation to be performed,or the FIG. 16 embodiments.

It should be noted that the optical interconnect 99′ shown in FIG. 22Acan beneficially have a shape other than a thin wire or tube, such as anomniguide with any form or shape located above and connection tomicrolasers 150 at a suitable location such as on or near the uppersurface of the microchip PC 90 ₁ located at least at each microprocessor93 and 94 or connected thereto, for example; the optical interconnect99′ and microlasers 150 and associated transmission and receptioncomponents can be located elsewhere on the microchip PC 90 ₁ withbenefit. An omniguide can take a waveform shape or rely exclusively on amirrored (or semi-mirrored) surface or surfaces (or combination of bothshape and mirrored surface) to guide lightwave signals such aspropagated by a microlaser 150 substantially directly and/or byreflection. A relatively large optical interconnect 99′ can enablefreespace or wireless-like connections between microlasers 150; such anoptical interconnect 99′ can cover substantially the entire PC90microchip or can connect multiple PC90 microchips and can connect one ormore PC90 microchips to other PC components.

As shown in FIG. 22A, random access memory (RAM) 66 can be located onmicrochip PC 90 ₁ like in FIG. 16U and also can be connected directly orindirectly to the optical interconnect 99′ (or use non-opticalconnections not shown), so that the microprocessors 93 and 94 and RAM 66can communicate with a very broad bandwidth connection, including withRAM 66 and microprocessors 93 and 94 located off microchip PC 90 ₁ onthe network including the Internet 3 and WWW. Any other component of thePC 90 microchip can be connected with the optical interconnect 99′ andmore than one such interconnect 99′ can be used on the same PC 90 orother microchip. Microlasers 150 can include, for example,5-to-20-micron-high (or other height) vertical cavity-surface-emittinglasers (VCSELs), which can beam down waveguides built into the PC90microchip; alternatively, freespace optics can be employed; and lensescan be employed. Radio-frequency (RF) signals can also be used forsimilar interconnects 99′. Micro light emitting diodes (LEDs) cansubstitute for one or some or all of the microlasers 150 and either canbe a transceiver (transmit and receive light signals).

FIG. 22C is a side cross section of the microchip PC 90 ₁ shown in FIG.22A taken at hatched line 22C (which is abbreviated). FIG. 22C shows thelocation of the omniguide above the surface of the microprocessors 93and 94 and RAM 66 and connecting them while also containing two or moremicrolasers 150 (associated DSP and other components not shown)proximate to each to contain the optical signal generated by themicrolasers 150 so that the signal can be transmitted betweenmicroprocessors 93 and 94 and RAM 66 either directly or by beingreflected off the mirrored (or semi-mirrored) surface of the omniguide99′, for example. Each of the microprocessors 93 and 94 (or 30 or 40)and RAM 66 (or any other memory component such as L1 cache or L2 cache,for example, or other microchip component) can have one or moremicrolasers 150 and each such microlaser 150 can distinguish itself fromother micro-lasers 150 on the microchip (or off it) that also generatewavelength signals by using, for example, a distinct wavelength of lightfor data transmission and/or utilizing wave or dense wave divisionmultiplexing. FIG. 22A is a top view of the microchip PC 90 ₁, which isa PC system on a microchip, any of which disclosed in this applicationcan be also more generally any microchip with multiple processors. Themicrolasers 150 (and associated transmission and reception componentssuch as DSP) that are associated with RAM (or parts of it) or othermemory components can either provide data in response to directinquiries or fetches made by a microprocessor 93 or 94 or can broadcasta continual stream of current data (continually updated and repeated incontinuous cycle, for example) which is used by the microprocessor asneeded.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 22A, 22B and 22C can be combinedwith one or more of any of the preceding Figures of this application toprovide a useful improvement over the art.

FIG. 23A shows multiple firewalls 50, a concept indicated earlier by theat least one firewall 50 discussed in FIG. 17D. FIG. 23A shows a PC 1 ormicrochip 90 with a primary firewall 50 and additional interiorfirewalls 50 ¹, 50 ², and 50 ³, that are within primary firewall 50. Asshown, interior firewall 50 ³ is in the most protected position, sinceit is inside all the other firewalls, while the other interior firewalls50 ², and 50 ¹ are progressively less protected, since, for example,interior firewall 50 ¹ is protected from the outside network only by theprimary firewall 50. As shown, progressively more protected positionscan be created within the PC1 or microchip 90. The interior firewallscan also be arranged in any other way within the primary firewall 50.The interior firewalls, can be used to separate user files from systemfiles, for example, or to separate various hardware components from eachother. In this manner, a number of compartments can be created withinthe PC 1 or microchip 90 to more safely protect the software, hardware,and firmware of the PC1 or microchip 90, just as ships have a number ofseparate watertight compartments to protect against flooding and avoidsinking. Any of the primary or interior (or other inner firewallsdiscussed below) can be hardware, software, or firmware, or acombination, and can coexist in layers, so that a firewall 50, forexample, may have a hardware firewall, a software firewall, and afirmware firewall, either as independent units or as integrated,components. W³ in FIG. 23A and subsequent Figures denotes the World WideWeb.

FIG. 23B shows another embodiment of compartments created by innerfirewalls within a PC1 or microchip 90. Primary firewall 50 and interiorfirewall 50 ¹ are like FIG. 23A, but interior firewalls 50 ², 50 ³, and50 ⁴ are shown perpendicular to firewalls 50 and 50′ (just to illustratein a simplified schematic way, which may be different in an actualembodiment). In this way, an upper row of compartments U¹ and U² can beused, for example, to bring from the network files which are firstauthenticated and then enter into the U¹ compartment, are decrypted, andundergo a security evaluation, such as by virus scan, before transfer tothe most secure compartment U². Any operations could potentially occurin any compartment, depending on the level of security desired by theuser (by over-ride) for example, but an advantageous default systemwould allow for files with the highest levels of authentication,encryption, and other security evaluations to be allowed into the mostsecure compartments.

Similarly, operating system files can also be authenticated and broughtfrom the network side of the PC1 or microchip 90 into compartment O¹ fordecryption and security evaluation or other use, and then finallytransferred into the most secure compartment O². Again, similarly, a rowof compartments can be used for separating hardware, such as a mastermicroprocessor 30 or 93 being located in compartment M¹ and a remotecontroller 31, for example, located in compartment M².

Also, additional inner firewalls 50 ²²,50 ³³, and 50 ⁴⁴ can be locatedoutside the primary firewall 50, but within the network portion of thePC1 or microchip 90, to separate user files in compartment U fromoperating system files in compartment O from hardware such a slavemicroprocessor in compartment S on the network side. In the exampleshown, an additional row is shown for hardware, including a hard drivein a compartment HD on the network side, a hard drive in compartment HD¹on the PC1 or microchip 90 user's side, and flash memory (such as systembios 88) in compartment F². Each microprocessor 30, 40, 93, or 94 canhave its own compartment in a manner like that shown in FIG. 23B, as canassociated memory or any other hardware component.

FIG. 23C shows an inner firewall 50 embodiment similar to FIG. 23B, butFIG. 23C shows that any file or set of files, such as operating files Oor user data files U or application files A, can have its own innerfirewall 50 ^(O) or 50 ^(U) or 50 ^(A). Similarly, any hardwarecomponent, such as hard drive HD, also can have its own inner firewall50 ^(HD). Additionally, more than one file or set of files or hardwarecomponents can be grouped together within an inner firewall, such as 50^(s) shown in FIG. 23C.

FIGS. 23D and 23E show operating system files O or application files Alike those shown in FIG. 23C, but organized differently in discretelayers, each separate grouping of the operating or application fileshaving a separate firewall 50 (and optionally with as well as a PC1 orPC90 firewall shown in earlier Figures), so that the firewall structureis like that of an onion. The operating system files O or applicationfiles A can have a parallel structure, with an innermost kerneloperating system or application file located in the center, withadditional features in other files in subsequent layers, from thesimplest to the most complex and from the most secure and trusted to theleast secure and trusted.

Using this structure, as shown in FIG. 23D, an innermost operatingsystem core O¹ may be firmware stored in a read-only memory (ROM),located in a microchip for quick access, so that a simplest versionoperating system with all core features can be protected absolutely fromalteration and can be available almost immediately, without lengthy bootup procedures required by loading the operating system from a harddrive, for example. The core operating system O¹ can include a core ofthe system BIOS or of the operating system kernel, for example; it wouldbe advantageous for this core to be capable of independent operation,not dependent on components in other levels to operate at the basic corelevel (similarly, other levels can advantageously be independent ofhigher levels).

A secondary operating system O² can be software located advantageouslyon flash or other microchip nonvolatile memory such as magnetic (or lessadvantageously, a hard drive or other mechanical storage media) and canconsist of additional features that are more optional, such as those notalways used in every session, or features that require updating,changing, or improving, such features coming from trusted sourceslocated on a network, such as the Internet or the Web; additionalportions of or upgrades to the system BIOS and the operating systemkernel can be located in O², for example.

A third level operating system O³ located, for example, on a hard drive,can consist of additional software features that are used onlyoccasionally and are more optional, and can be loaded as needed by auser into DRAM or magnetic memory microchip for execution, for example.Operating systems O² and O³ can include, for example, the most recentupgrades from a known and trusted source, such as a commercial softwarevendor or open source software developer, that are downloaded from anetwork, including the Internet and the Web, or loaded from conventionalmemory media like CD or floppy diskette. All three levels of suchoperating systems O¹, O², and O³ together can constitute, for example,roughly the equivalent of a conventional PC operating system typical inthe year 2000.

A fourth level operating system O⁴, for example, can consist of specialuse or single use operating system add-ons, especially software comingfrom untrusted or unauthenticated sources on a network, such as theInternet or the Web.

For example, the graphical interface of the operating system can be in2D only at the O¹ level, in 3D at the O² level, rendering at the O³level, and animation in the O⁴ level; additionally, a standard formatcan be maintained in the O¹ and O² levels, with user or vendercustomization at the O³ level.

As shown in FIG. 23E, application files such as A¹, A², A³, and A⁴ canbe structured the same way as operating system files O in FIG. 23D andwith the same layered approach to firewalls 50 as in FIG. 23D. Typicalapplication software of the year 2000 can be restructured in thismanner.

The kernel operating system files O¹ and O², as well as kernelapplication files A¹ and A² can be located in any personal computer PC1or PC90, including at the level of an appliance including the simplestdevice, advantageously in ROM and in non-volatile read/write memory suchas Flash (or magnetic such as MRAM, or ovonic memory) microchips, forexample, as described in FIGS. 23D and 23E above. Inclusion of wirelessconnection capability is advantageous, as is the use of DWDM.

An advantage of the file and firewall structures shown in FIGS. 23D and23E is that a system crash or file corruption should never occur at thesimple and unalterable level O or A¹ and any level above O¹ or A¹ can berecovered at a lower level, specifically the highest level at whichthere is a stable system or uncorrupted data. For example, a wordprocessing application program can have the most basic functions of atypewriter (i.e. storing alphanumeric, punctuation, spacing, andparagraph structure data) stored on a ROM microchip in A¹ and relateduser files (i.e. such as a word document) on U². Insertion of a digitalvideo file into a word document can be handled at the A³ level andinsertion of a downloaded special effect at the A⁴ level. In thisexample, a crash caused by the insertion at the least secure and mostcomplex A⁴ level would not disturb the word document located at the U²or U³ level. Rebooting and/or recovery can be automatic when detected bythe operating system or at the option of the user.

Thus, FIGS. 23A-23E illustrate embodiments wherein a PC1 or microchip 90includes a hierarchy of firewalls. In the context of the presentinvention, firewalls may be structured to allow varying degrees ofaccess from the network side of PC1 or microchip 90. As discussed above,ROM may totally deny access from the network side, effectively creatingan innermost firewall. Hardware, software, firmware, or combinationsthereof may be structured to deny or allow a predetermined maximum levelof access from the network side, effectively creating outer firewalls.Similarly, intermediate firewalls, effectively may be created.

The embodiments of FIGS. 23A-23E, as well as earlier FIGS. 17A-17D andearlier embodiments, provide a solution to digital rights management byproviding a highly safe environment for the owners of digital versionsof audio, video, and software copyrighted material. Such copyrightedmaterial as movies, television, music, and application or operatingsystem software may be decrypted and controlled on the network user sideof the PC 1 or PC 90, while the PC 1 user is denied access to thedecrypted digital version of the copyrighted material. However, thenetwork user can make the material viewable to the PC 1 user, but notcopyable, via the PC 1 and PC 90 microchip architecture shown in FIGS.10A and 10C. For example, a copyrighted movie or music album may be afile that is associated with control and other software; all fileslocated on one or more specific hardware components may be groupedtogether within an inner firewall, such as 50 ^(s) shown in FIG. 23C.

Additional security for copyright owners may be provided by using adigital signal processor (DSP), and/or analog and/or other componentsgrouped within the inner firewall 50 ^(s) to convert network userselected decrypted digital files into analog files before they aretransmitted off the PC 90 microchip, so that only an analog signal exitsthe PC 90 microchip for viewing or listening by the PC 1 user. As such,direct digital copying by the PC 1 user of copyrighted digital filesprovided over the Internet is prevented.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 23A-23E can be combined with oneor more of any of the preceding Figures of this application to provide auseful improvement over the art.

Additionally, an inner firewall can divide any hardware component into aseparate network side compartment and a separate firewall protected sidecompartment. For example, a hard drive 61 can have a controller 61′ thatis divided into two compartments, HD and HD¹, as above. As shown in FIG.24, the user side HD¹ compartment of the controller 61′ can have a readcapability controller r and a write capability controller w, while thenetwork side HD compartment can be limited to a read capabilitycontroller r only. The user side HD¹ compartment controller can be, forexample, used to control only the upper surface of the hard drive 61platters, while the network side HD compartment controller can be usedto control only the lower surface of the hard drive 61 platters, so thata single hard drive can effectively serve a dual role as both anetwork-accessible hard drive and a user-accessible hard drive, whilemaintaining a firewall 50 between them. Additionally, the network sideHD controller can optionally have a write capability also, which can bepreemptively turned on or off by the PC1 or microchip 90 user. Otherrelative allocations between network and user of the HD 61 platters canbe made and can be configurable by the user or system administrator ornot configurable.

Similarly, CD drives 63 or DVD drives 64 (read only or read/write) canhave a controller 63′ or 64′ like that of the HD controller 61′ abovethat is divided by a firewall 50, so that some laser beams are undernetwork control and other laser beams are under user control, like theabove hard drives. Floppy disk drives, “Zip” drives, and other removabledisk or diskette drives can similarly be divided by a firewall 50 sothat there is a physical user portion of the disk or diskette and aphysical network portion of the disk or diskette, both either fixed orconfigurable by a user or system administrator or other authorizedsource. Memory microchips such as RAM or Flash or other can also bedivided into network and user sides in a similar manner.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIG. 24 can be combined with one or moreof any of the preceding Figures of this application to provide a usefulimprovement over the art.

The use of volatile memory on the network side of the PC1 or microchip90 is particularly useful in eliminating viruses and other securityproblems originating from the network side, such as malicious hackers onthe Internet. When the network side of the firewall 50 of the PC1 ormicrochip 90 is returned to its user (preemptively or otherwise),volatile memory like random access memory (RAM) such as DRAM on thenetwork side can first be erased. For example, volatile memory can bepurged by momentarily interrupting power to the network side of the PC1or microchip 90, thereby erasing all network data so that no networkdata is retained when the user regains control of the network side ofthe PC1 or microchip 90 for the user's use, except at the user's option;other conventional means may be employed. Of course, when the user isspecifically using the network side, for example, for Web browsing, theoperating system or the user can selectively save network side files ortransfer them to the user side.

On the network side, non-volatile memory like Flash, MRAM, and ovonicmemory with network data must be overwritten to obtain the sameerasure-type protection, which can be a disadvantage if it takes muchmore time. Moreover, for relatively large storage media, such as CD-RWor DVD-RW with write-once capability, network data writing must betracked to be effectively erased. Any new network file on non-volatilememory with only a write-once capability can be erased by overwritingall “0's” to “1's”, so that, for example, the network data written on aCD-RW or DVD-RW would be converted to all “1's” or “pits” (no unpittedwriting surface within the network data sector, permanently overwritingthe file); optionally, the operating system or the user can selectivelysave network side files or transfer them to the user side, or viceversa. There is a disadvantage to using Flash memory, since repeatedoverwriting will eventually degrade it.

FIGS. 25A-25D show the use for security of power interruption or dataoverwrite of volatile memory like DRAM and non-volatile memory likeFlash or MRAM (or ovonics), respectively, of the network portion (N) ofa personal computer PC1 or system on a microchip PC90; the network (N)portion being created within a PC1 or PC90 by a firewall 50 (asdescribed above in previous Figures) and including resources that, whenidled by a user, can be used by the network, including the Internet (I)or the World Wide Web. Such use is to prevent the unplanned or approvedmixture of user and network files by either files being retained in the“swing space” (N) during the transition from use by a network user touse by the PC1/PC90 user or vice versa.

As shown in FIG. 25A and FIG. 25C, when the network portion (N) of thePC1 personal computer or PC90 microchip is idled by a user, for example,power is interrupted to volatile memory like DRAM and/or data isoverwritten to files in non-volatile memory like Flash or MRAM (orovonics), so that no files exist in the network portion (N) after suchinterruption or overwriting.

After the step shown in FIGS. 25A and 25C, the network portion (N) canbe used safely from a security viewpoint by a user from the network,including the Internet and the World Wide Web (and potentially includingother network resources), as shown in FIG. 25B, or by the PC1/PC90 user,as shown in FIG. 25D, potentially including other resources from theuser portion (U) of the PC1 or PC90. As noted earlier, the FIG. 25approach can advantageously be used as an additional feature to otherconventional security measures.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 25A-25D can be combined with oneor more of any of the preceding Figures of this application to provide auseful improvement over the art.

The PC 90 microchip as previously described, or a personal computer PC 1(or any microchip, including a special or general purpose microprocessoron a microchip, alone or including one or more other system componentsas previously described) may include one or more photovoltaic cells 201,as are well known in the art. The photovoltaic cells 201 may be locatedon the PC 90 microchip or located near the PC 90 microchip, such asadjoining it or adjacent to it, or located less near, such as in the PC90 microchip user's home, office, or vehicle, either inside or outside,or may be located more remotely.

FIG. 26A shows one or more photovoltaic cells 201 located on a PC 90microchip. The photovoltaic cells 201 may use electromagnetic radiation,such as visible light, as a power source that is directed to the cells201 by an optical waveguide 202, which may include a size that issufficient to allow the cells 201 to generate electrical power atmaximum output level or at a most efficient level. In addition, visiblelight in freespace (without a waveguide 202) may also serve as a powersource and can be directed by the use of one or more lenses 204.

FIG. 26B shows a single microchip 200 including both a PC 90′ and one ormore photovoltaic cells 201. FIG. 26B shows a top view of a multi-layermicrochip having one or more photovoltaic cells 201 on one side of amicrochip 200, with a PC 90 on the other side of the microchip 200, asshown in FIG. 26C in a bottom view of the same microchip as FIG. 26B.Besides being integrated on the same microchip 200, the photovoltaiccells 201 may be located separately from the PC 90 microchip, and thetwo separate elements may be joined or adjoining.

A light source for the photovoltaic cells 201 can be direct or indirectand can be sunlight or artificial light, including light from a laser,or a combination, and can be optionally focused by a lens 204. The lightmay be coherent with one or more discrete frequencies, such as from alaser, or incoherent with many frequencies. The artificial light may begenerated by well known conventional means that are conventionallypowered by electricity distributed by the existing electrical powergrid, as is well known in the art.

A single photovoltaic cell or a number of cells 201 may power eachcomponent on the PC 90 microchip, such as the master microprocessor 93or slave microprocessors 94, DRAM or MRAM, Flash memory, DSP, or laser150, or any of the other components previously described. Thephotovoltaic cells 201 may be connected to one or more batteries. Thephotovoltaic cells 201 can be located remotely as a separate unit, suchas on the PC 90 microchip user's roof at home, car, or office, so thatthe cells 201 provide general local power or power dedicated to the PC90 microchip and/or associated components. The PC 90 microchip may be anetwork server, router, or switch, so that any network component can bepowered by photovoltaic cells 201, including the Internet, an Intranet,or the World Wide Web.

The FIG. 26A-26C embodiments advantageously eliminate the need for amicrochip, such as the PC 90 microchip, to have a wired connection 99that typically provides power or data or both, but which also provides aconnection means for the entry of electromagetic flux, which can impairor destroy the functioning of the PC 90 microchip. The embodiments shownrely on light, which does not transmit electromagnetic flux, for powerand data.

FIG. 27A shows a single microchip 200, combining a PC 90 microchip (orany microchip, including a special or general purpose microprocessor ona microchip, alone or including one or more other system components aspreviously described) and one or more photovoltaic cells 201, that issubstantially surrounded by a Faraday Cage 300, such as is well known inthe art, that is optimized to shield against magnetic flux, includinghigh frequency flux (and may include shielding against electric flux).Faraday Cage 300 may be constructed of a mesh structure, or may also bea continuous structure without holes, which has an advantage ofpreventing entry by very high frequency electromagnetic flux, and mayincorporate other microchip structures, such as a heat sink 301.

FIG. 27B shows separate PC 90 microchip and one or more photovoltaiccells 201; the two separate components are connected by a wire 99, andall three components are substantially surrounded by a Faraday Cage 300,also known as a Faraday Shield or Screen.

FIG. 27C shows the same components as FIG. 27B, but shows each componentsubstantially surrounded by a separate Faraday Cage 300, all of whichmay be connected. For portable handheld wireless devices, the ground forthe Faraday Cage 300 may be the user's body.

As shown in FIG. 27D, the PC 90 microchip may be located in a housingfor any of the PC's described previously, such as a case of a laptoppersonal computer 401 or a PC cell phone 402, which may also have aseparate Faraday Cage 300, so that the PC 90 microchip is substantiallysurrounded by more than one Faraday Cage 300. The inner Faraday Cage 300surrounding the PC 90 microchip may be optimized to shield againstspecific frequencies of magnetic flux, such as high frequency flux inthe microwave range, which may be assisted by the relatively smallersize of the PC 90 microchip (compared to its housing). FIG. 27D shows aninner Faraday Cage 300 surrounding only a portion, the PC 90, of amicrochip such as the combined microchip 200.

As shown in FIGS. 27E and 27F, the PC 90 microchip can be separate fromthe photovoltaic cell or cells 201 and can be joined by a wiredconnection 99.

As shown in FIG. 27E, an inner Faraday Cage 300 may surround only aportion of a PC 90 microchip, such as a Magnetic Random Access Memory(MRAM) component.

FIG. 27F shows Faraday Cage 300 that surrounds only a portion of one ormore photovoltaic cells 201, such as a part conducting an electricalcurrent flow directly to the PC 90 microchip.

The PC 90 microchip may also be powered by one or more fuel cells 211 orone or more batteries (each with one or more cells) 221 or anycombination of such batteries 221, fuel cells 211, or photovoltaic cells201. As shown in FIGS. 27E and 27F, the PC 90 microchip is typicallyseparate from a fuel cell or cells 211 or batteries 221 and can bejoined by a wired connection 99, as shown, as is the case with aphotovoltaic cell or cells 201. A wired connection 99 can be configuredto protect the PC 90 microchip from electromagnetic flux through the useof RF traps or Ferrite grommets or beads 212 on the wire or cableconnection 99.

By providing power without an external wired connection 99, both fuelcells 211 and batteries 221 isolate the PC 90 microchip from a powergrid that can transmit electromagnetic flux, but to do so a battery orbatteries 221 can be configured to provide connection to the power gridonly intermittently when charging is required.

FIG. 27G shows a microchip, such as a PC 90 microchip, surrounded by aFaraday Cage 300 but without including a photovoltaic cell 201 shown inFIGS. 27A-27F.

FIG. 27H shows a PC housing such as a laptop PC 401 or PC cell phone 402including a PC 90 microchip and separate Faraday Cages 300 surroundingboth the microchip and housing. Also shown is an antenna 499 (orantennas) for wireless communication that can be separated from theFaraday Cage 300 to protect the electrical components of the PC by an RFtrap or Ferrite grommets or beads 212. The antenna 499 can projectexternally from the PC housing or be located internally in the PChousing, such as in the screen housing of a laptop PC 401. In anexemplary implementation, the antenna 499 is located outside of at leastone Faraday Cage 300.

Any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 26A-26C and 27A-27H may becombined with one or more other embodiments shown in those Figures or inpreceding FIGS. 1-25 and described herein.

It is currently contemplated that commercial embodiments of thenetworks, computers, and other components of the Internet, World WideWeb, and the Grid (or MetaInternet) described in this application in thepreceding FIGS. 1-25, including hardware, software, firmware, andassociated infrastructure will be developed in conjunction and with theassistance of the Internet Society (ISOC), the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C), the Next Generation Internet (NGI), professional organizationslike the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) andthe American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as well as othernational and international organizations, and industry consortia drawnfrom the telecommunication, T.V. cable, ISP, network, computer, andsoftware industries, as well as university and other researchorganizations, both U.S. and international, to set agreed upon operatingstandards which, although often arbitrary, are critical to efficient,reliable functioning of the Grid (or MetaInternet).

It is also presently contemplated that the Linux programming languagewill take a central role in the Grid (or MetaInternet), since ahomogeneous system has an advantage as being most efficient andeffective, and Linux is among the most stable, efficient higher levelsoftware available, one that has already established a preemininent rolein distributed parallel processing. A heterogeneous Grid (orMetaInternet) is certainly feasible too, but less advantageous, as isthe Java programming language, which excels in heterogeneousenvironments. Although Linux may be employed instead of Java in keepingwith the more effective homogeneous approach for parallel processingsystems that can scale even to the massive numbers of PCs available onthe Internet and WWW, either Java or principles employed in Java may beused with benefit, especially in certain cases like security, such asthe use of “sandboxes” to provide secure execution environments fordownloaded code (see page 39 of The Grid, Foster and Kesselman andassociated bibliography references 238, 559, 555, and 370), although useof one or more internal firewalls as discussed earlier in FIGS. 10 and17 to protect personal user files and critical hardware and softwaresystems, such as the operating system, may provide similar capability.

It is also contemplated currently that, like the Linux programminglanguage, the Grid (or MetaInternet) described in this application canbe developed into a commercial form using open source principles forInternet-like standards for software and hardware connections and othercomponents. Such open source development is anticipated to beexceptionally successful, like Linux, because much of it can befreeware, although modified with one vital enhancement to provide equityfor significant contributors: minimal licensing fees that are to be paidonly by medium to large commercial and governmental entities atprogressive rates based on financial size; the resulting funding can beused for significant financial and other awards for special research anddevelopment efforts relating to the Grid (or MetaInternet) and its opensource development, particularly outstanding achievements by individualsand teams, especially independent developers and virtual teams, theawards also being progressive in terms of importance of contribution andmost being peer-selected. Open source commercial development of the Grid(or MetaInternet) should therefore, like Linux, attract the mostinterested and best qualified technical expertise on the planet, alllinked by the Internet and WWW to collaborate virtually in realtime 24hours a day and 7 days a week, creating a virtual entity extraordinarilyskilled in the existing art.

It is also anticipated that the exclusive rights to the Grid (orMetaInternet) granted by patents issued on this application,particularly for the homogeneous embodiment of the Grid (orMetaInternet)—which is by far the most effective and efficient form—willensure that the Grid (or MetaInternet) is homogeneous on criticalhardware and software standards and protocols. That is because anyheterogeneous systems cannot compete commercially due to inherentinferiority in efficiency, while any competing homogeneous system wouldinfringe the patents issuing from this and other applications andtherefore be enjoined from operations. The open Grid (or MetaInternet)standards would thus be patent-protected.

As noted earlier, the Internet 3 and WWW (and successors or equivalents)are expected to ensure that any single design standard in widespreaduse, such as the Wintel standard (software/hardware) and the AppleMacintosh standard (also both), are homogeneous as to Grid (orMetaInternet) parallel processing systems as outlined in thisapplication, since the Internet and WWW and equivalents or successorsmake available such a large pool of homogeneous computers with the samestandard, in ever increasingly close proximity as more and more PCs andother devices go online. The increasingly universal connection attributeof the Internet 3 and WWW and successors therefore create virtualhomogeneity for most significant brands.

The term homogeneous as it is used here refers to functional designstandards primarily, not physical structure, for example, when appliedto hardware. In this sense, then, for example, the Intel Pentium II, theAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) K6-6, and the Cyrix Mil microprocessorchips are functionally compatible and homogeneous with no need forspecial emulation software, although they are each structurally quitedifferent and use different microcode at the microchip level. The newTransmeta microprocessors are expected to be functionally compatible andhomogeneous through elaborate and highly efficient emulation,potentially an ideal microprocessor for the Grid (or MetaInternet). Incontrast, for example, the Apple G3 processor is also structurallydifferent but in addition requires a different operating system and istherefore not functionally compatible and not homogeneous with thePentium II, K6-6, and Mil microprocessors discussed above. Similarly, MSDOS and DR DOS are functionally compatible software PC operating systemsand homogeneous, even though their codes are different, whereas AppleMacintosh operating systems are not functionally compatible orhomogeneous with the two DOS systems, except with the addition ofspecial emulation software, which is not efficient. Substantiallyinterchangeable use therefore is a defining element of homogeneity asused in this application. An example of a heterogeneous parallelprocessing system distributed among many computers, which can be of anysort, is the University of Virginia's Legion system, in contrast to thehomogeneous systems discussed above.

This application encompasses all new apparatus and methods required tooperate the above described network computer system or systems,including any associated computer or network hardware, software, orfirmware (or other component), both apparatus and methods, specificallyincluded, but not limited to (in their present or future forms,equivalents, or successors): all enabling PC and network software,hardware, and firmware operating systems, user interfaces andapplication programs; all enabling PC and network hardware design andsystem architecture, including all PC and other computers, networkcomputers such as servers, microprocessors, nodes, gateways, bridges,routers, switches, and all other components; all enabling financial andlegal transactions, arrangements and entities for network providers, PCusers, and/or others, including purchase and sale of any items orservices on the network or any other interactions or transactionsbetween any such buyers and sellers; and all services by third parties,including to select, procure, set up, implement, integrate, operate andperform maintenance, for any or all parts of the foregoing for PC users,network providers, and/or others.

The combinations of the many elements of the applicant's inventionintroduced in the preceding Figures are shown because those embodimentsare considered to be at least among the most useful possible, but manyother useful combination embodiments exist but are not shown simplybecause of the impossibility of showing them all while maintaining areasonable brevity in an unavoidably long description caused by theinherently highly interconnected nature of the inventions shown herein,which generally can operate all as part of one system or independently.

Therefore, any combination that is not explicitly described above isdefinitely implicit in the overall invention of this application and,consequently, any part of any of the preceding Figures and/or associatedtextual description can be combined with any part of any one or moreother of the Figures and/or associated textual description of thisapplication to create new and useful improvements over the existing art.

In addition, any unique new part of any of the preceding Figures and/orassociated textual description can be considered by itself alone as anindividual improvement over the existing art.

The foregoing embodiments meet the overall objectives of this inventionas summarized above. However, it will be clearly understood by thoseskilled in the art that the foregoing description has been made in termsonly of the most preferred specific embodiments. Therefore, many otherchanges and modifications clearly and easily can be made that are alsouseful improvements and definitely outside the existing art withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention, indeed which remainwithin its very broad overall scope, and which invention is to bedefined over the existing art by the appended claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A computer that is configured for connection to anetwork including the Internet, comprising: a microchip including ageneral purpose microprocessor, said microprocessor including a mastercontrol unit and at least five processing units, the master control unitconfigured to control the processing units; at least one Faraday Cagesurrounding said microchip; said microchip further including at leastone inner firewall, located between the master control unit and at leastfour processing units, configured with hardware to make the mastercontrol unit and one of the processing units inaccessible from thenetwork including the Internet when the computer is connected to thenetwork including the Internet; and said at least one inner firewall isfurther configured in a manner that permits access by the networkincluding the Internet to at least four of the processing units of themicroprocessor for an operation with another computer in the networkincluding the Internet when the computer is connected to the networkincluding the Internet.
 3. A computer that is configured for connectionto a network including the Internet, comprising: a microchip including ageneral purpose microprocessor, said microprocessor including a mastercontrol unit that is configured using hardware and firmware andincluding at least five processing units, the master control unitfurther configured to control the processing units; a Faraday Cagesurrounding said microchip; said microchip including at least two innerfirewalls; a first of said at least two inner firewalls is configuredwith hardware to make the master control unit and a first one of theprocessing units inaccessible from the network including the Internetwhen the computer is connected to the network including the Internet;said at least one inner firewall is further configured in a manner thatpermits access by the network including the Internet to at least four ofthe processing units of the microprocessor for an operation with anothercomputer in the network including the Internet when the computer isconnected to the network including the Internet; and a second of said atleast two inner firewalls, located between the master control unit and asecond one of the at least two processing units, is configured withhardware to make the second one of the processing units of themicroprocessor inaccessible from the network including the Internet whenthe computer is connected to the network including the Internet.